Holcim Romania 1Q04 turnover up 37 per cent

Holcim Romania has registered a 37 percent YoY increase in turnover for the first quarter of 2004. The company posted a revenue of EUR11m (US$13.1m) for the first three months of 2004, compared to EUR8m in the same period last year, local daily Ziarul Financiar quoted Holcim Romania CEO Kurt Habersatter as saying.

The increase in revenue was attributed to the expanding concrete business. A YoY increase in revenue of 5-6 per cent is expected for 2004, Habersatter added.

Company officials were not immediately available for comment.

Holcim Romania had invested over EUR270m by the end of 2003 in equipment, modernisation and environmental protection measures and plans to invest another EUR20m in 2004 in modernisation of the company’s cement factories, increasing the number of concrete plants and renovating the existing ones. The company spent some EUR50m in  2003 for modernisation of its grey cement production at the Alesd plant in northwestern Romania, in the renewal of a distribution centre and in putting into operation of a modern coal mill in the Campulung plant, southern Romania.

Holcim Romania plans to open a production line in its Turda white cement plant with an investment of EUR3.5m. The company also plans to open to environment-friendly concrete plants in the capital Bucharest and in Timisoara, which are estimated at a total EUR3m.