France: Lafarge has reported a loss for its net income of Euro96m for the first quarter of 2015, an improvement from a loss of Euro135m for the same period in 2014. The multinational building products manufacturer blamed the loss on seasonal factors and noted that it had been 'significantly' reduced due to operational performance and cost cuts. Otherwise, sales rose by 6% year-on-year to Euro2.78bn from Euro2.63bn. Volume of cement sold fell by 4% to 25Mt from 25.9Mt.

"Our markets are developing in line with our expectations and growth shall accelerate gradually in the coming quarters. We reaffirm our expectation of cement volume growth of 2 to 5% in our markets in 2015. We also confirm our target to significantly grow our operational results with an expected underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA), excluding the impact of the planned merger with Holcim, of between Euro3bn and Euro3.2bn in 2015," commented Bruno Lafont, chairman and chief executive officer of Lafarge.

Regional sales were affected both positively and negatively by currency exchange variations and divestments of assets. Notably, cement sales volumes fell by 8% to 2.4Mt and sales revenue fell by 9% to Euro457m in Western Europe, principally due to lower volumes in France. Cement sales volumes fell by 6% to 9.9Mt but sales revenue rose by 9% to Euro972m in Middle East and Africa. Volumes in this region were affected by transport limitation in Iraq and the suspension of operations in Syria. Asia continued to show both improving sales volumes and revenue in the quarter.