Greek cement maker Heracles Cement , majority-owned by France’s Lafarge , reported a first-quarter pretax loss on Thursday, hit by falling sales in the domestic market and higher fuel costs. The first-quarter showed a loss of Euro 2.9m Heracles said, based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) accounting. The company had posted a Euro 14m pretax profit in the year-earlier period under Greek accounting standards.
Heracles said in a statement sales fell 6.3 percent to Euro 120.2m, as demand slowed following the end of the Athens Olympic Games. Heracles, with three cement plants, has an annual total production capacity of 9.6Mt. Its shares were unchanged at Euro 9.06 while the broader market was 1.05 per cent higher.
