Italcementi
Italcementi's
first-quarter turnover improved by 9.7% to
€
1153.2m, while
the running EBITDA declined by 6.4% to
€
130.4m. The trading profit
recovered by 17.6% to
€
35.6m. At the pre-tax level, there was a swing from a
€
5.7m loss into
a profit of
€
23.4m after a
net interest charge 58.9% lower at
€
16.1m and there was a net
attributable profit of
€
127.6m compared wit a loss of
€
8.6m, helped
by a
€
109.1m gain on
disposals, chiefly in Turkey. There should be some further Turkish divestments
this year. The net debt at the end of March was 2.9% lower at
€
2166.4m to
give a gearing level of 44.2%, down from 48.5% a year earlier. The sale of
emission rights yielded
€
9m in the quarter, three times the amount booked that time
last year.
Cement
and clinker sales were 4.6% higher at 12.4Mt, though international trading
activities saw volumes drop by 53.9% to 0.6Mt as reduced volumes were supplied
to group companies in Egypt, and the EBITDA from cement and clinker trading
declined by 5.9% to
€
2.8m. Underlying aggregates deliveries rose by 4.1% to 9.3Mt
and ready-mixed concrete volumes advanced by 8.6% to 3.5Mm³ on the same basis
with Calcestruzzi having been re-consolidated from the beginning of the year.
Western
European, cement and clinker volumes were 11.9% higher at 4.63Mt, with Italian
shipments being 0.4Mt higher at 2.1Mt. The Italian cement and clinker volumes
recovered by 9.6%, which was a better performance than the market and prices
showed a recovery, but were still lower than a year earlier. A further price
increase could be implemented during the summer. Turnover in Italy improved by
32.8% to
€
212.8m largely
because of the inclusion of Calcestruzzi and because of Calcestruzzi's losses a
€
19.4m loss was
incurred at the EBITDA level. In France and Belgium, turnover rose by 20.5% to
€
392.8m and the
EBITDA advanced by 26.5% to
€
53.8m, with cement volumes recovering by 19.1% in France and
by 30.7% in Belgium, helped by the milder weather. In Spain, turnover fell by
12.4% to
€
38.8m and the
EBITDA dipped by 65.9% to
€
3.0m with, domestic cement deliveries being down by 9.3%. In
Greece, turnover was fell by 29.9% to
€
12.2m and the EBITDA dropped by
93.1% to
€
0.3m as cement
and clinker sales were down by 15.3%.
Egyptian
turnover declined by 21.6% to
€
167.6m as the political uncertainty halted the companies'
production for a week and disruptions in some places stopped construction
activity for longer. The EBITDA was off by 17.7% to
€
50.9m, with
cement deliveries declining by 13.8% and prices easing a bit. In Morocco,
turnover was 5.1% higher at
€
84.9m and thanks to the new Aït Baha cement works, the
EBITDA improved by 18.1% to
€
36.6m. The old Agadir works was closed at the end of March. Increased
competition led to some reduction in prices, but domestic deliveries still
increased by 3.9% and the overall cementitious volume rose by 5.5%. The results
from the rest of the region, which consists of Bulgaria, Kuwait, what is left
of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, produced a turnover 2.8% higher at
€
26.8m and
generating an EBITDA of
€
6.8m. Kuwait had the biggest turnover with
€
16m while
Bulgaria made the highest profit contribution, almost entirely thanks to the
sale of emission certificates.
Asian
sales rebounded strongly after the weak start to last year, with turnover
advancing by 37.1% to
€
130.3m and the EBITDA jumped by 72.5% to
€
24.8m, in
spite of no positive contributions from China and Kazakhstan. India increased
turnover by 53.3% to
€
69.5m and the EBITDA jumped by 95.1% to
€
15.5m. Cement
and clinker sales rose by 24.5% in the first quarter and domestic cement sales
were ahead by 15.2%, helped by additional capacity that came on-stream last
year at the Yerraguntla works, with a grinding plant at Chennai being added
shortly. In the Thai market, turnover was raised by 30.4% to
€
54.2m and the
EBITDA advanced by 68.2% to
€
10.1m as domestic deliveries increased by 11.3%, while total
cement and clinker sales were 9.1% higher. In the Shaanxi province in China,
Italcementi increased cement and clinker volumes by 17.5%, but the results
suffered because of the higher cost of coal. Kazakh volumes declined by 7.1%
because of a bad winter, but better prices allowed a small profit improvement.
The
North American turnover was up by 3.8% to
€
63.9m, but the EBITDA loss
widened from
€
17.1m to
€
21.9m. Cement
shipments improved by 6.8% to 0.6Mt, but average prices declined in a very
competitive market that had to cope with higher input costs.