Increased sales of cement, aggregates and ready mixed concrete have helped Heidelberg Cement to record a 12.6% rise in turnover in the third quarter of this year. The company has recorded sales of €3.4billion, up from €3billion in the same period last year.
The company has credited recovering markets in North America and Europe, as well as sustained growth in Asia-Pacific and Africa, for the good performance. In a statement, the company said, “North America continued to benefit from the infrastructure projects; in Western and Northern Europe, the demand for aggregates and ready-mixed concrete exceeded the previous year's level, as it did in the second quarter. In the Eastern Europe-Central Asia group area, sales volumes were still below the same quarter of the previous year, however, the decline has further slowed down. The growth in the other group areas clearly outweighed these declines.”
Heidelberg chairman of the managing board Dr Bernd Scheifele said, “In the third quarter, we were able to further increase our turnover and results in comparison with the previous year because of our advantageous geographical positioning in local growth markets and the successful continuation of our efficiency and cost-saving programmes.
“"In the last three months, we have been able to reduce our net debt by over €400million to around €8.6billion thanks to the positive business development. Our 'FitnessPlus 2010' programme is still on schedule and generated savings of €203million in the first nine months.”
Looking ahead, the company said, “So far, economic development in 2010 has been better than originally expected. The
“Development dynamics of the economic growth still clearly differ from region to region. In Asia and Africa, the positive trend is expected to continue. An improvement in economic output is also anticipated for North America and Europe. Uncertainties will still remain over the strength and timescale of the economic recovery because of the high level of unemployment and national debt in individual countries.
“In Western Europe, the expectations for future development present a varied picture. For Northern Europe and Germany, we anticipate a significant recovery driven by the strong economic development in Germany as well as other factors. The recently announced costsaving measures in the United Kingdom proved to be less severe than expected. In particular, several important road-building projects were excluded from the cutbacks. Because of an expected decline in construction activity in Belgium and a weak Dutch construction market, further price pressure is anticipated in this region.
“The recovery in Eastern Europe and Central Asia has taken the longest time to arrive. Construction activity in Poland is currently gathering pace again and growth rates are expected to increase towards pre-crisis levels. While demand in the Czech Republic is expected to stabilise and subsequently improve, we anticipate a continuation of the weak development in Hungary and Romania. In the countries in the eastern part of Eastern Europe and in Central Asia, increasing cement volumes (albeit from a low level) and a price recovery are expected.”
