Similarly, the cumulated turnover of 10 listed construction firms in the same period advanced by just 2.3%, while their incomes remained unchanged from the level reached in the first half of 2007.
The construction materials field in the first half of this year benefited from the high demand coming from builders, which led to a 30% price hike.
This pushed some listed companies to earmark larger sums for the investments they had initially planned. Many producers in this field have in the past year announced major investments to boost production capacities. They say that once the new production capacities are installed, competition may tighten and profit margins go down, but this is viewed as normal in light of the fact that there has been a major supply surplus on the market so far.
"(...) I expect somewhat more moderate increases, of 5-10%, and not of 30-40% as we've registered so far," stated Ioan Crehul, general manager of Cemacon Zalau. In the first half, the company boasted the fastest turnover growth, after the figure went up by 66.3% against the same time last year and reached 24.4m RON, while Cemacon's income climbed 2.4 times, to 3.6 million RON.
Lafarge Agregate si Betoane, the biggest producer in this field listed on the Stock Exchange, saw its turnover go up by 38.9% in the first six months, to 75.4m RON, amid a 64.3% higher income of 7.3m RON.
Analysts believe the stagnating indicators at the level of the constructions sector were also registered amid the more unfavourable weather conditions of this year.
Some builders have recently stated they also noticed a sales decline in the housing sector, after the boom of the past two years, amid the international liquidity crisis and stricter lending conditions.
The biggest listed constructions firm, Comnord Bucuresti, reported 27% lower turnover in the first half, to 95.3m RON and 29% lower net income, of 9.9m RON.
On the other hand, other smaller builders posted even three-digit sales growth rates this year.
"People are now temporarily waiting to see the trend of the apartment prices, but I believe construction activities will be resumed (...)," said Marius Muresan, an analyst with STK Financial.
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