Italy: Sales in Scandinavia and the US have stabilised Cementir’s growth so far in 2017. Its sales volumes of cement and clinker increased by 1.7% year-on-year, on a like-for-like basis, to 9.6Mt in the first nine months of 2017. This was attributed to a ‘favourable’ performance in Denmark, Egypt, Malaysia and China, slight growth in Turkey, although Italy recorded a downturn in sales volumes.

The group’s sales revenue remained flat at Euro964m for the period, on a like-for-like basis, despite the negative impact of foreign exchange rates. The group said that the positive trend of revenue in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, China and Italy offset a drop in Turkey and the fall in revenues expressed in Euros in Egypt, while revenue performance in Malaysia was almost stable. Cementir’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 0.6%, on a like-for-like basis, to Euro152m.

"The results in the first nine months of 2017 were slightly better than management expected following the strong performance of the Nordic and Baltic and US, despite the lower earnings in Turkey and the unfavourable exchange rates. The results benefited from the effect of the acquisitions in the second half of 2016, which contributed Euro30.5m to EBITDA,” said Francesco Caltagirone Jr, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO).