Heidelberg Materials says the decline in demand in private residential construction, which was "massive" in some cases, could not be offset by a solid development in industrial, commercial construction and infrastructure projects. The Western and Southern Europe Group area, in particular, recorded significant volume decreases due to declining construction activity. The Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia, North America, and Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin Group areas recorded slight declines in sales volumes. Sales volumes in the Asia-Pacific Group area saw a positive development, especially for cement.
More positively, excluding scope and exchange rate effects, Heidelberg Materials says its Group revenue rise amounted to 6%. Changes to the scope of consolidation of €67 million had a positive impact on Group revenue, while exchange rate effects of €693 million had a negative impact.
"We have closed the first three quarters of 2023 with a strong result despite declining demand for our building materials," stated Dr Dominik von Achten, chairman of the managing board of Heidelberg Materials. "On a like-for-like basis, all Group areas have contributed to this result. I would like to thank the entire Heidelberg Materials team for their outstanding performance in what continues to be a very challenging business environment. Based on this sustained positive performance, we are again raising our outlook for the 2023 financial year."
In the third quarter, Heidelberg Materials was able to strengthen further its pioneering role in the decarbonisation of the building materials sector. Group activities have gained further momentum with the installation of the core equipment of the CCUS plant in Brevik, Norway, and the start of construction of a CCUS pilot plant in Bulgaria. This brings us much closer to our goal of offering our customers climate-friendly products on a large scale.
In the third quarter of 2023, Heidelberg Materials revenue fell by 4.1% to €5,611 million. On a like-for-like basis, however, it rose by 1.6%.
In October, construction of a pilot plant began at the cement plant in Devnya, Bulgaria. The pilot plant will source important operating data for the large-scale ANRAV project, which the EU Innovation Fund sponsors. It is expected to go into operation in just a few months.
Heidelberg Materials is pioneering new process technologies to promote the circular economy and decarbonisation. As part of the CIRCO BETON project and for the first time in France, used concrete is being separated into sand, aggregates, and recycled concrete paste. The concrete paste, carbonated with CO₂ from clinker production, will replace clinker in new low-carbon cements.
Looking ahead, a Heidelberg Materials trading statement said: "At the end of the first nine months of 2023, it has become apparent that the order situation for infrastructure projects and parts of the commercial construction sector is partially compensating for the decline in residential construction. Energy and raw material prices remain volatile and very high multi-year but have fallen, contributing to the growth in results. Heidelberg Materials expects the positive developments over the past few months to continue in almost all core markets until the end of 2023.
"Against this backdrop, the company is raising its outlook for the 2023 financial year – as already published on 19 October. While Heidelberg Materials continues to expect a moderate increase in revenue (excluding scope and exchange rate effects) compared with the previous year, it now expects a result from current operations of €2.85 billion to €3 billion."
