Europe: LafargeHolcim has announced its roadmap for the second half of 2015 as it has released the 2015 half-year results for Lafarge and Holcim (click on links to see separate stories).

"We continue to operate in a demanding global market environment and this has affected our first-half performance," said Eric Olsen, CEO of LafargeHolcim. "However, as a new company we have hit the ground running. A team of 200 senior leaders of LafargeHolcim met as early as last week to align on priorities, targets and initiatives to drive the integration process. It is a great team we have on board. We have launched a set of synergy acceleration activities covering areas such as capital expenditure (capex), procurement, cement industrial performance, network optimisation as well as commercial transformation. We expect to see the first tangible results in all areas by the end of 2015."

LafargeHolcim expects to deliver at least Euro93.9m in synergies, impacting earnings until the end of 2015 as part of its programme to achieve Euro1.4bn run rate synergies by the third year of operations. LafargeHolcim has also launched a review of its asset base and the planned capital expenditures for the remainder of 2015. It targets an overall reduction in capex of at least Euro18.8m until the end of 2015, compared to what both companies had planned to spend on a standalone basis. This results in capex of below Euro1.31bn for the second half of 2015. In parallel, the company has also launched a portfolio review for further optimisation.

Further, LafargeHolcim has defined capital allocation discipline as a key focus area with a view to reduce capex and maximise cash generation and returns for shareholders. As a first step, LafargeHolcim has decided on a progressive dividend policy, starting at least at Euro1.22/share for the financial year 2015, subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting in 2016. This will apply to all shares, including the new shares to be awarded to shareholders as a scrip dividend of one share per 20 shares held that was announced in March 2015. This scrip dividend is now expected to be issued on 8 September 2015.

LafargeHolcim expects net proceeds of around Euro5.63bn by the end of 2015 from divestments that will be used to reduce debt, supporting a solid financial structure. This would lead to a net debt below Euro14.1bn by the end of 2015, prior to the fair value adjustment on the Lafarge debt and a potential squeeze-out of Lafarge.