Berks Products assets bridge New Enterprise’s eastern Pennsylvania arc

Sources: New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., Inc., New Enterprise, Pa.; CP staff

In transactions totaling $46.3 million, New Enterprise Stone & Lime has acquired the assets of eastern Pennsylvania operators Berks Products Corp., Reading, and EJB Paving & Materials, West Lawn. Berks’ four ready mixed and two aggregate plants plus a construction supply center, and two EJB asphalt plants, serve markets west and north of Philadelphia.

They are situated between New Enterprise’s existing stone, aggregate, ready mixed and asphalt production sites from Lehigh Valley to Lancaster, Pa., and expand its operating footprint into the Reading market. The acquisitions demonstrate the viability of a profit enhancement plan adopted five years ago, notes New Enterprise CEO Paul Detwiler III. “[They] were completed with no additional long-term debt and will push our operating profit to record highs,” he adds. “We have now shown our ability to grow operating profit while reducing debt—a cornerstone of our operating plan.”