The company has also reported results for the first full nine months of the year with €12.2billion sales recorded and a 4% fall in operating income to €1.9billion.
According to Lafarge, improvements were seen in the Central and Eastern European markets during the third quarter and aggregates and concrete operating income was up 21% during the period.
"Lafarge’s overall performance held up well in the quarter thanks to our balanced high quality portfolio and to the operational efforts of all our business units,” said Lafarge chairman and chief executive officer Bruno Lafont. “This occurred despite the absence of a significant recovery in developed markets. Moving forward, we will continue to implement our strict financial discipline and expect to benefit from solid volume growth in emerging markets.
“While we remain prudent on mature market trends as we enter 2011, we expect to see solid growth in the emerging markets. As seen in recent years, these markets will continue to drive cement demand as urbanization, demographics and infrastructure needs result in higher rates of construction.”
