A decision by the majority owners of Boral, the Rich Lister Stokes family, to poach Vik Bansal to run the construction materials group has paid off handsomely.

The sharemarket value of the cement, asphalt and gravel group has increased by $2 billion in 12 months, after Bansal pushed through price increases of more than 12 per cent to offset rising input costs, and embarked on a decentralisation strategy aimed at unleashing a more entrepreneurial mindset among managers.