# USLM Family Control and Cash
A family controls USLM and lets cash pile up. Minority holders get safety, not a say.
## Who controls it
- Inberdon Enterprises Ltd. owns 61.58% (17.65M shares). George M. Doumet owns Inberdon indirectly.
- His brother Antoine M. Doumet sits on the board.
- Free float is ~38%. No activist or hostile bid can win.^[Colubeat Investment Desk, 28 May 2026, https://colubeatid.substack.com/p/united-states-lime-and-minerals-inc]
## What the record shows (2023–2025)
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Net income | $317.7M |
| Dividends | $15.1M |
| Buybacks | $7.5M |
| Cash at end | $371M (from $133M) |
- ~7% of profit went back to holders. The rest stayed as cash.
- No special dividends, no related-party deals, no debt.
- Cash reached $383M in Q1 2026 and ~$403M in Q2 2026, with no debt.^[https://www.panabee.com/news/united-states-lime-minerals-earnings-q2-2026-report]
> [!tip] Not destructive is not the same as aligned
> The family earns ~$4.2M a year in dividends. The cash still raises the paper value of its stake. It has no reason to hurry.
## Pay rewards size, not returns
- CEO bonus is tied to absolute EBITDA only. No return on capital, no free cash flow.
- The $65M kiln passes any return test.
- The same formula would reward a large, low-return acquisition that adds EBITDA.
## Succession
- CEO Timothy Byrne is 69. He has led since the late 1990s. His contract ends in 2028.
- No successor is named in filings.
- Nothing public describes the family's plans for its stake after George Doumet.
- A CEO change in 2028 is the likeliest moment for a rethink of the cash: special dividend, buyback, sale, or a bad deal.
```mermaid
graph LR
C[Cash grows<br/>~$100M+/yr] --> Q{2028 CEO change}
Q -->|good| R[Return cash:<br/>buyback or special dividend]
Q -->|good| S[Sale of company]
Q -->|neutral| H[Keep hoarding:<br/>value gap stays]
Q -->|bad| M[Large low-return deal<br/>to grow EBITDA]
```
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tags: #boat #investing
links: [[United States Lime and Minerals MOC]] [[Acquisition-Driven Compounders MOC]] [[Investing Discipline]]