Fitch Ratings on Wednesday assigned "Negative" rating outlook for Protective Life Corp. (PL) and revised the outlook of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (MLM) to "Stable" from "Negative".
Protective Life Corp.
Fitch noted that the Negative outlook for Protective Life reflects uncertainties associated with the reserve financing efforts, the reserve credit on reinsurance as well as the ultimate realization of future investment losses.
Fitch assigned a 'BBB' rating to Protective Life's issuance of $800 million senior notes. Fitch views the senior debt issuance and surplus note refinancing as a positive step in reallocating capital between Protective Life's subsidiaries, Golden Gate Captive Insurance Co. and Protective Life Insurance Co. It also believes that PL's ratings reflect on its favorable earnings performance outweighing its peers, strong liquidity, and good competitive position in the U.S. life insurance market.
Fitch anticipates that the newly-issued debt will initially increase interest payments moderately because the interest rate on the newly-issued senior notes exceeds the current rate on the repurchased surplus notes.
Martin Marietta Material
The outlook revision of Martin Marietta to "Stable" from "Negative" was made by Fitch, citing its macro view of the company's various end-markets for 2010.
Fitch affirmed Martin Marietta's Short-term IDR at 'F2', Senior unsecured debt rating at 'BBB', Revolving bank credit facility at 'BBB' and Commercial Paper rating at 'F2'.
Fitch said that it affirmed Martin Marietta's rating based on substantial demand for construction products prompted by federal and state government funding of transportation projects, consistent free cash flow generation, operating leverage, high level of fixed costs and solid liquidity. Fitch currently expects Martin Marietta's volume to be flat to slightly higher in 2010, with volume gains in public infrastructure and residential construction offset by declines in non-residential construction. The expected volume gains in infrastructure are due to increased spending from the stimulus package passed this past February, and in particular from the $27.5 billion in additional highway and bridge funding.
Fitch expects aggregates pricing to increase roughly 2%-3% next year and also noted that there has been a shift in pricing dynamics in the aggregates industry over the past few years, which has provided aggregates companies with the opportunity to continue to increase prices despite the significant decline in volumes. Martin Marietta's operating results have been negatively affected by the weakening aggregates demand across most of the company's end-markets. However, Fitch's areas of concern for the company include weather-related risks, the potential volatility of state and federal spending on highway construction, the cyclical nature of the construction industry and exposure to environmental issues. Wednesday, MLM and PL closed regular trading at $92.23 and $21.91, respectively, on the NYSE. In the after hours session, MLM is up 0.04% and PL is up 0.27%.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.