Knife River books nearly $42M gain from Tax Cuts & Jobs Act

Sources: MDU Resources Group Inc., Bismarck, N.D.; CP staff

A Tax Cuts & Jobs Act-prompted reevaluation of 2017 net deferred tax liabilities across MDU Resources produced a $41.9 million addition to fourth quarter figures for the Knife River Corp. construction materials business unit. Federal tax reform passed late last year lowers the corporate tax rate from 39 percent to 21 percent. The deferred tax liabilities gain positioned Knife River to contribute $123.4 million of MDU Resources’ $284.2 million in 2017 earnings, against respective prior year figures of $102.7 million and $232.4 million.

Knife River has concrete, aggregate and asphalt operations from the Upper Midwest to Pacific Northwest, plus integrated cement businesses in Alaska and Hawaii. The unit was impacted early in 2017 by above-average precipitation in many markets and natural disasters in some areas, but closed the year with completion of a number of projects, especially in Western markets. Knife River enters 2018 “evaluating acquisition opportunities,” MDU Resources notes.

“We are very pleased with our strong finish to the year, irrespective of the benefit we saw from federal tax reform,” says CEO David Goodin. “We had a particularly strong fourth quarter, with our construction businesses successfully executing on projects under favorable weather conditions. In 2017, all our businesses performed very well, and we are optimistic about the momentum we have going into 2018 as we continue building a strong America.”