HeidelbergCement details its first-quarter 2017, full-year outlook

HeidelbergCement published its first-quarter results, noting that sales of aggregate are up 8 percent to 61 million metric tons.

The company’s overall revenue was up 34 percent. HeidelbergCement largely attributes its increased sales volumes and revenue to the consolidation of Italcementi.

In addition, the continued recovery of the construction industry in North America and Europe had a positive impact on the development of sales volumes, the company says.

“We continued our strong operational development in the first quarter and realized further synergies,” says Dr. Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board. “We were able to almost offset the effect of higher energy costs, bad weather conditions and increased competition in some emerging countries in the most seasonally weak quarter of the year.”

Overall, HeidelbergCement’s seasonal loss for the first quarter increased slightly, the company says. HeidelbergCement maintains a positive outlook for the global economy and expects growth in aggregate sales volumes.

“We remain cautiously optimistic about 2017,” Scheifele says. “While the overall outlook for the global economy is positive, major macroeconomic and particularly geopolitical risks remain.

“HeidelbergCement will benefit from the good and stable economic development in the industrial countries, above all in the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the countries of Northern Europe and Australia,” he adds. “These countries generate approximately 60 percent of our revenue.”