Welcome to the Spring 2025 edition of The ESOP Builder — an internal publication for employees of JE Dunn. Our goal remains to keep everyone informed about our Employee Stock Ownership Plan and how the program directly impacts you as an employee owner at JE Dunn.
This edition of The ESOP Builder serves as a tribute to our outgoing CFO, Beth Soukup. Inside, you can find a feature article about Beth’s career and her impact on the ESOP, as well as a spotlight on Mission Critical’s large impact on last year’s historic share price return. A complete set of all ESOP information can be found on Connect. If you have ESOP questions that you cannot find answers to, please direct them to Anne Wright.
We are always looking for suggestions for The ESOP Builder content and ways to improve this publication. Please send feedback and ideas to Ben Hobbs.
In April, employee owners should have received their 2024 ESOP participant statements. Statements are also available on the Principal website.
JE Dunn Construction Group, Inc. stock was valued at $107.25 per share as of Dec. 31, 2024, an increase of $32.85 over the stock value of $74.40 as of Dec. 31, 2023. Dividends paid for the year ending December 31, 2024, were $4.32 per share for a total return of 49.96% for JE Dunn shares.
The JE Dunn Construction Group, Inc. Board of Directors also approved the following contributions to the JE Dunn Employee Stock Ownership Plan and Trust (ESOP) for 2024:
The ESOP Trust currently owns 27.95% of JE Dunn Construction Group, Inc. stock.
As discussed in the All-Company meeting on April 23, we are currently forecasting 2025 construction revenue of approximately $8.2 billion, compared to 2024 construction revenue of $7.4B. Earnings before taxes as a percentage of construction revenue is currently forecasted at 3.01% for 2025. Final 2024 earnings before taxes as a percentage of construction revenue was 3.26%.
The following chart recaps our share price and annual return over the last seven years:
“Continue to follow our guiding principles. The one that’s most close to my heart is probably ‘Doing the Right Thing.’ If we keep living that out, this company will continue to succeed.”
91% of ESOP workers feel they can live comfortably in retirement compared to only 49% of non-ESOP retirees.
Employees at ESOP companies tend to earn higher wages and have greater savings than their peers in non-ESOP companies.
There are over 6,500 ESOP companies in the United States, covering around 14.9 million participants.