Moldovan cement producer Ciment Rezina, majority-owned by French building materials group Lafarge, increased its net profit twice to 19 mln Moldovan lei (Euro 1.1m) in 2004 compared to 2003, it was reported on March 15, 2005. The company’s sales revenue grew by 70 per cent year-on-year to 231.7 mln lei (Euro 13.8m) in 2004, Ovidiu Crisu, head of Lafarge in Moldova, said on March 15, 2005. Ciment Rezina increased the production of clinker by 25 per cent to 339,000t in 2004. The company produced 430,000t of cement in 2004.
The building materials industry is one of the main industrial sectors in Moldova. Its 2004 output rose by 64 per cent year-on-year to 233.7 mln lei (Euro 14m), the country’s Statistics Department figures showed.
Lafarge reportedly bought a 51 per stake in Ciment Rezina in 1999 for just US$200,000 and pledged to repay the company’s debt of 38 mln lei (US$3.0m) and to invest US$12m in the modernisation of the plant. Ciment Rezina’s employees still hold a 1.8 per cent stake and the government and several investment funds control the balance.
