Cimpor said it managed to improve full year net profit by 3.9 per cent to EUR266.2m from EUR256.1m despite ’a number of adverse factors’.  
 
These included the on-going decline of cement prices in the Brazilian market, the continuing climate of recession which has been characterising the Portuguese market and the substantial rise in energy costs, the company said.  
 
Sales grew 12.4 per cent to EUR1.535bn from EUR1.366bn and EBIT expanded 9.9 per cent to EUR355.4m from EUR323.4m, with EBITDA rising 9.7 per cent to EUR495.8m from EUR451.9m.  
 
The EBITDA margin dropped to 32.3 per cent in 2005 from 33.1 per cenet the previous year because of the adverse factors, Cimpor said.  
 
Egypt and Spain were the business areas which contributed most to the improvement in operating performance, while the only exceptions to the rise in operating cash flow were Tunisia and, above all, of Brazil, where cement prices went down nearly 17 pct in the local currency, the company said.