Heracles pretax profit up 137 per cent

Greek cement producer Heracles said on Monday its first-quarter group pretax profit rose 137 percent to 14 million euros, thanks to better weather than last year and rising profit margins in Greece.

Group sales increased 13.2 percent to 128.3 million euros compared to the previous year when domestic sales were affected by bad weather and logistics problems, the company said in a statement.

Group operating income more than doubled to 14 million euros from six million euros. Heracles is majority owned by France’s Lafarge. The company said the pretax profit was after extraordinary and non-operating expenses.  Heracles has three cement plants in Greece, with a total annual production capacity of 9.6 million tonnes.