SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES [Abstract]

NATURE OF OPERATIONS

NATURE OF OPERATIONS

Vulcan Materials Company (the “Company,” “Vulcan,” “we,” “our”), a New Jersey corporation, is the nation's largest supplier of construction aggregates (primarily crushed stone, sand and gravel) and a major producer of asphalt mix and ready-mixed concrete.

We operate primarily in the United States and our principal product — aggregates — is used in virtually all types of public and private construction projects and in the production of asphalt mix and ready-mixed concrete. We serve markets in twenty states, Washington D.C., and the local markets surrounding our operations in Mexico and the Bahamas. Our primary focus is serving metropolitan markets in the United States that are expected to experience the most significant growth in population, households and employment. These three demographic factors are significant drivers of demand for aggregates. While aggregates is our focus and primary business, we produce and sell asphalt mix and/or ready-mixed concrete in our Alabama, mid-Atlantic, Southwestern, Tennessee and Western markets.

BASIS OF PRESENTATION

BASIS OF PRESENTATION

Our accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements were prepared in compliance with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X and thus do not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) for complete financial statements. We prepared the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements on the same basis as our annual financial statements, except for the adoption of new accounting standards as described in Note 17. Our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2018 was derived from the audited financial statement, but it does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. In the opinion of our management, the statements reflect all adjustments, including those of a normal recurring nature, necessary to present fairly the results of the reported interim periods. Operating results for the three month period ended March 31, 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2019. For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and footnotes included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Due to the 2005 sale of our Chemicals business as described within this Note under the caption Discontinued Operations, the results of the Chemicals business are presented as discontinued operations in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income.

RECLASSIFICATIONS

RECLASSIFICATIONS

Certain items previously reported in specific financial statement captions have been reclassified to conform to the 2019 presentation.

RESTRICTED CASH

RESTRICTED CASH

Restricted cash consists of cash proceeds from the sale of property held in escrow for the acquisition of replacement property under like-kind exchange agreements and cash reserved by other contractual agreements (such as asset purchase agreements) for a specified purpose and therefore is not available for use for other purposes. The escrow accounts are administered by an intermediary. Cash restricted pursuant to like-kind exchange agreements remains restricted for a maximum of 180 days from the date of the property sale pending the acquisition of replacement property. Restricted cash is included with cash and cash equivalents in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

LEASES

LEASES

Beginning in 2019 (see ASU 2016-02, “Leases,” as presented in Note 17), our nonmineral leases are recognized on the balance sheet as right-of-use (ROU) assets and lease liabilities. Mineral leases continue to be exempt from balance sheet recognition.

ROU assets represent our right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent our obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. ROU assets and lease liabilities are recognized at the lease commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. As most of our leases do not provide an implicit rate, we use our incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments. ROU assets are adjusted for any prepaid lease payments and lease incentives. Our lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that we will exercise that option.

We elected the following practical expedients: (1) the practical expedient package which permits us to not reassess our prior conclusions about lease identification, lease classification, and initial direct costs; (2) to not separate the lease components from the non-lease components for all leases; (3) to apply a portfolio approach to our railcar and barge leases; (4) to not recognize ROU assets and lease liabilities for all pre-existing land easements not previously accounted for as leases; and (5) to not recognize ROU assets or lease liabilities for our short-term leases, including existing short-term leases of those assets in transition.

For additional information about leases see Note 2.

DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS

DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS

In 2005, we sold substantially all the assets of our Chemicals business to Basic Chemicals, a subsidiary of Occidental Chemical Corporation. The financial results of the Chemicals business are classified as discontinued operations in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for all periods presented. Results from discontinued operations are as follows:

	Three Months Ended
	March 31
in thousands	2019	2018
Discontinued Operations
Pretax loss	$          (638)	$          (566)
Income tax benefit	2	150
Loss on discontinued operations,
net of tax	$          (636)	$          (416)

Our discontinued operations include charges related to general and product liability costs, including legal defense costs, and environmental remediation costs associated with our former Chemicals business (including certain matters as discussed in Note 8). There were no revenues from discontinued operations for the periods presented.

EARNINGS PER SHARE (EPS)

EARNINGS PER SHARE (EPS)

Earnings per share are computed by dividing net earnings by the weighted-average common shares outstanding (basic EPS) or weighted-average common shares outstanding assuming dilution (diluted EPS), as set forth below:

	Three Months Ended
	March 31
in thousands	2019	2018
Weighted-average common shares
outstanding	132,043	132,690
Dilutive effect of
Stock-Only Stock Appreciation Rights	742	1,132
Other stock compensation plans	269	537
Weighted-average common shares
outstanding, assuming dilution	133,054	134,359

All dilutive common stock equivalents are reflected in our earnings per share calculations. In periods of loss, shares that otherwise would have been included in our diluted weighted-average common shares outstanding computation would be excluded.

Antidilutive common stock equivalents are not included in our earnings per share calculations. The number of antidilutive common stock equivalents for which the exercise price exceeds the weighted-average market price is as follows:

	Three Months Ended
	March 31
in thousands	2019	2018
Antidilutive common stock equivalents	220	157