Displaying items by tag: Results

Switzerland: Holcim has reported improved earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and better prices in all regions in the first quarter of 2012. Overall, Holcim achieved an operating EBITDA close that seen in the first quarter of 2011, with like-for-like operating EBITDA growth reaching 5.5%. Consolidated net sales increased by 2.2% to Euro4.0bn. In absolute terms, Asia Pacific ranked first with net sales of Euro1.83bn.

Holcim's net income of Euro96.6m was almost as high as the level reached in the first quarter of 2011 and the net income attributable to shareholders of Holcim Ltd rose by 1.2% to Euro8.3m.

Another positive development is the fact that Holcim was able to mostly pass on cost increases through higher sales prices in all segments and in all regions (except Africa and the Middle East). The company also reported that it had reduced its net debt by nearly 5% over the 12 months to 31 March 2012.

Consolidated cement deliveries increased by 6.2% to 35.2Mt due to good economic conditions in Asia and Latin America and growing demand for construction materials in North America, Africa and the Middle East. With shipments of cement up by more than 1.8Mt, Asia Pacific was well ahead in terms of volume, mainly due to India. Higher shipments also were achieved in the US, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia as well as in Russia and Azerbaijan.

However, in contrast to last year's mild climate, the harsh winter brought many construction sites in Europe to a temporary standstill in February 2012. Sales volumes decreased in this region in all of Holcim's business segments as a result, impacting on the company's first quarter results.

Holcim expects demand for building materials to rise in emerging markets in Asia and Latin America, as well as in Russia and Azerbaijan in 2012. A slight improvement for North America can also be expected. In Europe, demand should remain stable, provided that the situation is not undermined by further systemic shocks. In any case, Holcim says that will give cost management its closest attention and pass on inflation-induced cost increases. Holcim says that its approach to new investments will be cautious and that it expects that it will achieve organic growth at operating EBITDA level in 2012.

Greece: Titan Cement has reported a widening quarterly loss after construction activity collapsed in the wake of the Greek debt crisis.

Titan's net loss for the first quarter of 2012 stood at Euro19.4m from Euro4.3m in the same period of 2011. Titan has been hit hard by a plunge in private housing investment and drastic cutbacks in public spending on infrastructure in Greece. Greek building volume contracted for a sixth consecutive year in 2011, shrinking to just a fifth of its size in 2005, the sector's last year of expansion.

"In Greece the uncertainty associated with the ongoing crisis and the worsening economic recession form a particularly challenging backdrop for private building activity," Titan said in a statement. The firm said it would continue cutting its operating costs and that it expected annual savings of Euro26m from a restructuring plan it launched in 2011.

Titan, which earlier in 2012 scrapped its dividend for the first time in 58 years, has been counting on growth in new markets such as north Africa and Turkey to offset the building slump in Greece. Yet, political crisis in Egypt has hurt its prospects there.

Titan's group sales declined by 11% year-on-year to Euro225.4m. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 29% to Euro34 m.

Italy: Italcementi has posted a net loss of Euro34.6m for the first quarter of 2012, compared with a net profit of Euro127.6m for the same period of 2011. The 2011 results benefited from the sale of Italcementi's operations in Turkey.

Revenues fell by 6.8% year-on-year to Euro1.07bn. Recurring earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 3.1% to Euro126.7m and EBITDA went down by 8.7% to Euro135.5m. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) slumped by a massive 41.4% to Euro21.3m.

Italcementi posted a pre-tax loss of Euro7.8m for the quarter compared with a pre-tax profit of Euro24m for the first quarter of 2011. Its net financial debt rose to Euro2.18bn on 31 March 2012 compared to Euro2.09bn at 31 December 2011.

France: Lafarge has announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2012, which show a 'solid' rise in sales and operating results. Sales increased for the quarter, up by 5% to Euro3.35bn for the first quarter, driven by improved pricing across all product lines and higher cement volumes in emerging markets.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and current operating income rose in the quarter, driven by higher activity in Middle East and Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America. It rose by 8% to Euro516m year-on-year. Lafarge also reported that it achieved Euro70m of cost savings and is on track to reach at least Euro400m for the whole of 2012.

"While the first quarter results traditionally represent a 'small' quarter and we remain cautious for the year, the group was encouraged by the higher revenues and EBITDA growth," said Bruno Lafont, Chairman and CEO of Lafarge. "We successfully launched our new cost reduction programme and it is positive that price actions are taking hold to address cost inflation.

"The group is focused on debt reduction, strict cost discipline, the maximisation of its cash flows and the achievement of at least Euro1bn of strategic divestments this year," continued Lafont. "The management reorganisation accelerates the group's actions towards efficiency and organic growth."

In North America Lafarge recorded an EBITDA loss of Euro46m, an 38% improvement on the Euro75m loss in the first quarter of 2011. In western Europe, its EBITDA was Euro94m, down by nearly a third on the same quarter of 2011 when the EBITDA was Euro151m. Central and eastern Europe recorded a loss in terms of EBITDA of Euro14m (compared to a Euro9m loss in 2011), Latin America recorded an EBITDA of Euro59m (Euro53m in 2011) and Asia had an EBITDA of Euro108m for the quarter (Euro85m in 2011). Lafarge's most profitable region was the Middle East and Africa, which saw a first quarter EBITDA of Euro315m.

Lafarge said that it continues to see cement demand moving higher and maintained its market growth estimate of 1-4% in 2012 compared to 2011. Emerging markets continue to be the main driver of demand for Lafarge, which said that it benefits from its well balanced geographic spread of high quality assets. The group also said that it expected higher pricing for 2012 and that cost inflation will increase at a lower rate than in 2011.

Germany: HeidelbergCement (HC) has released its financial results for the first quarter of 2012, which show a mixed overall performance. Group revenue improved by 8% to Euro2.8bn, with a 5% increase in cement sales volumes despite colder winter weather in mainland Europe.

HC reported strong growth in its North American operation, where it described the early signs of an economic recovery that had been helped by a relatively warm winter. It also highlighted strong developments and further potential in Asia, especially in Indonesia.

The group's operating income before depreciation (OIBD) decreased by 16% to Euro214m, adversely impacted by increased energy, freight and maintenance costs. It partly recovered some of its margin by the implementation of price increases.

The company reported that its three-year FOX 2013 programme for financial and operational excellence led to an improvement in cash flow of Euro39m in the first quarter of 2012. The company says that it is well on track to achieving the targeted improvement of Euro850m over three years, saving Euro384m in 2011 alone.

"The development of demand in the first quarter confirmed our outlook for the 2012 financial year," said Dr Bernd Scheifele, chairman of HC's board. "In view of high energy costs, we will unabatedly continue our efforts to reduce costs and improve efficiency under the FOX 2013 programme and increase prices in our markets in a consistent way."

"Deleveraging remains the highest priority for us in order to regain our investment grade rating," continued Scheifele. "Thanks to our advantageous geographical positioning in attractive markets in both emerging and industrialised countries... HeidelbergCement is excellently positioned to benefit over-proportionally from the continued economic growth."

Oman: Cement sector players in Oman are scaling up their production capacity to meet the ever-rising local demand and also from export markets such as Yemen and various East African nations. Until recently, the Omani cement manufacturers were ‘victims’ of a cheap influx of cement from the UAE. 

In 2011, imports met 25% of cement demand in Oman, mainly from the UAE where the weak construction sector had resulted in a excess of cement. Now with rising operational costs, producers in the UAE are no longer in a position to offer cement at lower prices, boosting the prospects of Omani producers. 

In the first quarter of 2012 Oman Cement has seen its cement sales increase by 13.8% on a year-on-year basis, driven by lower prices and an increase in domestic construction activity.

Meanwhile, Raysut Cement group's net profit before tax soared by 37% to US$17.7m in the first three months of 2012, from US$12.9m in the same period of 2011. The profit before tax of Raysut Cement Company (RCC) soared by 26% to US$14.5m, from US$11.6m during the same periods. The group as a whole sold 0.06Mt of clinker and 1Mt of cement during the quarter that ended on 31 March 2012 against 0.03Mt and 0.83Mt respectively in the same period of 2011.

Raysut attributed its increase in profit to higher sales volume and better price realisation in spite of competition, both in the domestic and in the export markets. Construction activity in Oman is expected to continue its upswing during the current year.

Ukraine: HeidelbergCement incurred losses of Euro6.7m in the first quarter of 2012, according to a company report. The loss is nearly three times the amount that the company lost in the whole of 2011, when it lost Euro2.3m. HeidelbergCement Ukraine reported a net revenue of Euro14.2m for the first quarter of 2012.

Colombia: Colombia's Grupo Argos has announced that its consolidated net profit in the first quarter of 2012 was US$125m, a fourfold increase from that seen in the first quarter of 2011. The group said that it had seen a surge in growth in its most significant business areas, namely cement and electricity. The group, which has a 61% stake in Cementos Argos, said that its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, were US$250m.

Mexico: Mexican cement giant Cemex has reported that sales growth in its operations in the United States, Central and South America and the Caribbean helped it to narrow its first-quarter loss in 2012.

"The favourable performance in most of our regions leads us to believe that we are in the initial stages of a turnaround," said Fernando Gonzalez, Cemex's executive vice president of finance and administration, who added that the quarter marked Cemex's sixth consecutive quarter of top-line growth.

Sales rose by 4% year-on-year in the January-March 2012 period to US$3.5bn. Higher sales in the US helped compensate for weaknesses in Mexico and Europe, although the US operations were still a drag on operating earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).

Cemex said its operating EBITDA rose by 7% on the year to US$567m. On a like-to-like basis for its ongoing operations and adjusting for currency fluctuations, operating EBITDA increased by 10%.

Cemex's net loss for the quarter was US$26m, narrower than a loss of US$229m loss a year earlier.

India: Ultratech Cement Ltd, part of the Aditya Birla group, has said that its net profit for quarter ending 31 March 2012 rose by 19% compared to the same quarter of 2011. It attributed the increase to higher sales volume and an increase in product prices.

The profit at India's largest cement company by sales climbed to US$165m for the January-March 2012 period, from US$138m in the same period in 2011.

Sales also increased by 19%, to US$1.01bn from US$582m.

Indian cement companies were helped in the last quarter by revived construction activity which boosted both sales volume and product prices. However, improvement in the profit margin was limited by a rise in costs of coal and diesel. Ultratech sold 11.54Mt of cement during the quarter compared with 10.70Mt in the same period in 2011.

Ultratech didn't say how much prices rose in the January-March 2012 quarter but brokerage firm Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd said that prices grew by 10% compared to the same period in 2011. Ultratech said its variable costs also rose by 10% as a result of higher energy prices. It also added that the surplus capacity in the Indian cement industry is likely to continue until 2015. Together with the rising cost of raw materials this is expected to put pressure to profit margins.