The group, based in Jona, Switzerland, may also consider swapping some assets with competitors given market conditions, Fontana said in an interview.
“There are things cooking,” Fontana told journalists at a press conference in Zurich. Any transactions would have to be announced at the “right time,” he said.
Holcim is now a “little bit more negative” on Europe than at the start of the year, chief financial officer Thomas Aebischer said. Third-quarter profit missed analysts’ estimates because of restructuring at sites spanning Hungary and Spain, and Holcim booked write-downs totalling 47 million francs (€39 million) at its European business.
Like its peers, the company needs to cut debt to adapt European operations to a building slump but any divestments would be smaller in scale than those planned by peers, Aebischer said.
Further adjustments to the cost-base will be made in weaker markets and Holcim may book more charges in the current quarter after initiating a “significant re-sizing” in Australia ten days ago, he said.
Holcim expects to meet a target of raising earnings this year. It sold more cement in emerging markets, often at better prices, with units from India to Mexico leading growth in cement sales.
Fontana, who became CEO in February, reshuffled European management as he seeks to boost earnings by 1.5 billion francs (€1.24 billion) by 2014 with better logistics and purchasing methods. He confirmed that Holcim is on track to meet the 150 million franc (€124.3 million) target of savings to come from his Leadership Journey savings programme this year.
Net income increased to 394 million francs (€326.6 million) from 356 million francs (€295 million). Sales rose 9.8% to 5.84 billion francs (€4.84 billion) meeting estimates.
