Holcim Romania, the domestic branch of Swedish construction materials group Holcim, ended Q1 2004 with turnover worth about 11 million euros, up 37% from the year-ago period. The growth was largely prompted by the expansion of the group's concrete operations.
The Swiss, though, are counting on moderate growth this year, by 5-6%, against the 100 million euros posted in 2003.
"During the first quarter of this year we benefited from higher temperatures as compared to the similar period of last year, which allowed us to kick-start our operations earlier. Turnover rose from about 8 million euros last year to 11 million euros at the end of March," Kurt Habersatter, chairman and general manager of Holcim Romania told Ziarul Financiar.
"We expect a 4% surge of the cement market this year, as motorway and national road projects might be delayed," the Swiss group official estimates.
Last year, because of the cold weather, the market's global growth rate reached only 4.3%, although analysts had forecast a 7% jump.
Holcim, which operates in the field of cement, concrete and aggregates entered the market in 1997, having invested more than 270 million euros on the Romanian market by the end of last year. The sum includes acquisitions, upgrading, environment protection and business development programmes.
"We plan to invest 20 million euros this year, mainly in the modernisation of cement plants, the expansion of the concrete station network and the rehabilitation of existent networks," Habersatter says.
According to the Holcim official, the company will set up a new production line at its cement plant in Turda, with investments coming to 3.5 million euros. Holcim is also slated to open two ecological concrete stations in Bucharest and Timisoara, under three million-euro investments.
Holcim, the world's second-largest cement producer, has said the Romanian market went up to 4.9 million tones of cement last year. The company's market share has been estimated at 31%.
adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro
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