Italy: Cementir’s sales and earnings have benefited from new assets in the US as well as good performance in Belgium and China. Its sales revenue rose by 4.8% year-on-year to Euro893m in the first nine months of 2018 from Euro852m in the same period in 2017. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 5.2% to Euro163m from Euro155m. Its cement sales volumes fell by 1.8% to 7.52Mt from 7.66Mt. However, these figures take into account the company’s sale of its Italian operations.
Francesco Caltagirone Jr, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “In the first nine months of 2018 the EBITDA benefited on the one hand from the contribution of the US by Euro12.3m and from the improvement in Belgium and China, on the other it suffered the deterioration of earnings in Egypt due to the curfew introduced in February 2018 and the resulting stop of all transport activities until May 2018, in Norway due to bad weather in the first quarter, and in Turkey due to the economic and currency crisis getting worse in the month of August.”
In March 2018 the company purchased a controlling stake in Lehigh White Cement in the US from HeidlebergCement. It operates the company with Cemex as a junior partner. In October 2018 Cementir, through its subsidiaries, acquired an additional stake in Egypt’s Sinai White Cement increasing its share to 71.1% from 66.4% for Euro3.8m.
