HeidelbergCement

HeidelbergCement's turnover declined by 21.6 per cent to €11,117m last year and the EBITDA fell by 28.7 per cent to €2,102m, with the trading profit being 38.7 per cent lower at €1,317.3m. Total financial charge rose by 5.3 per cent to €874.9m, though actual net interest payments were 13.8 per cent lower, and a pre-tax loss of €14.5m was incurred. Helped by tax credits and capital items, a net attributable profit of €42.6m was achieved. The net debt at the end December was reduced by 27.2 per cent to €8423m, helped by the rights issue and the gearing level fell from 139.8 per cent to 76.5 per cent. Capital investment was reduced by 34.4 per cent to €821m and further cost savings amounting to some €300m are expected from recent measures. Group sales of cementitous materials declined by 10.9 per cent to 79.3m tonnes, with the international trading volume down by 18.1 per cent to 8.1m tonnes. The global cement capacity now stands at about 110m tonnes.

Indocement, part of HeidelbergCement and its largest overseas profit earner, which announced its 2009 results on the 19th of March, saw cement and clinker volumes decline by 8.2 per cent to 13.46m tonnes. Domestic deliveries, which had been down by 14 per cent in the first half, recovered in the second half and ended the year just 3.9 per cent lower at 11.84m tonnes, while the market share was down from 30.2 per cent to 31.7 per cent. Clinker exports faced increased competition from European and Japanese producers and were down by some 32 per cent and total exports by 31.1 per cent to 1.61m tonnes. In the short to medium term, Indocement aims to increase grinding capacity to bring it in line with clinker production. New cement mills at the Cerebon works will increase grinding capacity by 1.5m tonnes and are scheduled to be in operation by the end of March. In local currency, the turnover increased by 8.1 per cent to IDR10,576bn (€1,157.8m), the EBITDA by 39.4 per cent to IDR4263bn (€348.1m) and the net profit by 57.3 per cent to IDR2747bn (€224.3m).