Holcim made 12 “value accretive” acquisitions in the quarter - five in Solutions & Products and seven in Aggregates & Ready-Mix – and accelerated its climate action work by publishing a second Climate Report with upgraded targets.
Meanwhile, Holcim’s 2023 guidance has been upgraded, with organic sales growth tipped to be above 6% and organic Recurring EBIT growth over 10%.
Jan Jenisch, Holcim CEO, said: "I thank all members of the Holcim family for this strong start to the year. This quarter’s performance demonstrates the strength of our portfolio and regional footprint, delivering broad-based profitable growth driven by high-value solutions, from ECOPact to ECOPlanet, supporting our customers in achieving their sustainability goals."
Strong performances across Holcim's building materials businesses led to profitable growth, said Jenisch. He continued: “Our teams continued our fast-paced execution with 12 value-accretive acquisitions, including Duro-Last, completing our range of flat roofing systems. With strong underlying trends across all our businesses, we are confident we will close the full year strong.
"We accelerated climate action with upgraded 1.5°C targets, as shared in our second Climate Report while expanding our range of sustainable building solutions. We reached 16% of ready-mix net sales with ECOPact low-carbon concrete and expanded our ECOPlanet range with two calcined clay production facilities in France and Mexico, delivering low-carbon cement with up to 50% less CO2. Scaling up circular construction, we launched our ECOCycle technology, recycling construction demolition materials into new building solutions, to exceed our 2025 target of 10 million tons."
Holcim’s North American region delivered a strong start to the year in Cement, Aggregates and Ready-Mix Concrete, with strong market demand in both the USA and Canada. Roofing volumes were impacted by inventory normalisation. Holcim’s roofing offer was further strengthened in the quarter with the closing of Duro-Last, alongside two other acquisitions in Aggregates. Order books are strong in all business segments.
The first quarter of 2023 in Latin America was the region’s eleventh consecutive quarter of profitable organic growth, with performance driven by Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. The company expanded the Solutions & Products business in roofing and waterproofing in Argentina and Mexico. Holcim expects these strong results to continue with an excellent pipeline of infrastructure projects ahead.
In Europe, Holcim delivered strong results across the region, with margin expansion driven by high-value solutions. Holcim closed two acquisitions in Solutions & Products and five in Aggregates and Ready-Mix. The company expects strong results to continue.
Holcim’s Asia, Middle East & Africa region showed profitable organic growth with significant margin expansion. Australia, Algeria and Egypt drove performance. Decarbonising its operations, the region delivered a substantial increase in alternative fuels. Order books for the region are good, and the recovery in China is progressing.
Accelerating climate action, Holcim reduced its CO2 per net sales by 21% in 2022 and will reduce it by over 10% in 2023. The 2023 Climate Report includes Holcim’s upgraded 2030 targets aligned with the 1.5°C framework and validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. Making progress in carbon capture utilisation and storage, Holcim commits to invest a cumulative CHF 2bn (€2.03bn) by 2030 in mature technologies to capture more than 5mn tons of CO2 annually.
