German construction materials group
"Due to the continuing strong economic growth in the emerging markets and the recovery in the United States, we are cautiously confident for the future," says chief executive Bernd Scheifele, who attributed the positive earnings development to the group's "strong" performance in Asia, Africa and North America.
"We are pleased that we achieved our goal of increasing revenue and operating income despite the negative impact of the euro crisis on many countries in Europe.
“Once again we could reap the benefit from our advantageous geographical positioning in growth markets and the successful continuation of our programmes for efficiency and margin improvement. The margins in the core businesses cement and aggregates continued to increase. The strong development in our markets in Asia, Africa and North America contributed to the positive margin development."
In its preliminary overview for Q4 and the full year 2012, the group says that for 2012 operating profit grew by 9.5% to €1.61 billion and revenues were up 8.7% at €14.02 billion.
In the fourth quarter revenue rose 6.5% from the year-earlier period to €3.5 billion; operating income was €455 million in the quarter, up 11% from a year earlier, while the income margin rose to 13% from 12.5%.
The company raised its three-year cost savings target to €1.01 billion from €600 million previously.
HeidelbergCement said it would publish full details of its 2012 earnings on 14 March.
