Tunisia’s Carthage Cement in red in H1, 2015

A sharp rise in financing costs is said to be behind Italcementi's turnover decline of 6% to €2.048.4 billion in H1 2014. The running Ebitda improved by 2.2% to €304.8 million helped by a 6.2% reduction in the amortisation and depreciation charge, while the trading profit improved by 27.7% to €99.8 million.

The 66.5% hike in financing costs, largely related to interest rate derivatives and derivatives on CO2 hedging, is said to have led to a net financial charge of €75.1 million. After contribution fro

The Moroccan division of Swiss building materials company Holcim is reported to have generated turnover of MAD 1.5 billion (€133.87 million) in the first half of 2013, down 18.7% year-on-year.

Overall cement consumption was down 12.6% over the same period, and EBITDA was established at MAD 695.50mn (€62.07 million), down 21.2%.

Greek firm Titan Cement posted a 20.7% year-on-year rise in its 2015 revenues, a 19.2% increase in its EBITDA to €216.4 million, and a 9.1% growth in its net profits to €33.8 million. In last year's Q3, the group's revenues went up by 25.8% to €368.3 million, and its EBITDA by 46.7% to €51.2 million. Titan Cement also posted a net loss of €2.4 million, from €0.4 million profits in the same period of 2014.