Czech building materials maker Cement Hranice, a unit of Germany’s Dyckerhoff Zement International, made an audited net profit of Kc408.3m for last year, a yr/yr rise of 11 per cent, and sales added more than 12 per cent to Kc1.515bn, CEO Jaromir Chmela told local reporters. "Besides a higher number of construction orders, the performance was largely affected by cutting personnel costs by Kc17m and a larger usage of alternative fuels and raw materials," Chmela said.  Exports made up close to 9 per cent of overall sales, down by one percentage point. Slovakia remained the main customer last year.  Dyckerhoff bought 98.27 pct of the company from France’s Ciments Francais in 1997. The remaining shares are owned by small shareholders. Dyckerhoff also controls Ostrava-based firm Cemos through Cement Hranice. Published under Cement News