Vicat sees generally favourable environments
Vicat’s turnover increased by 12.5% last year to €2265.5m, which represents an underlying improvement of 9.6%. The turnover in cement improved by 10.1% to €1137.6m and aggregates and concrete sales rose by 14.2% to €818.0m. Other activities increased turnover by 17.4% to €309.9m. Cement accounted for 52.1% of turnover, slightly lower than the 53.0% seen in 2010, but exactly the same as in 2009. Group cement deliveries advanced by 11.5% to 18.04Mt, helped by a full year’s consolidation of Bharathi Cement in India and an initial contribution from Kazakhstan.
The French turnover advanced by 12.9% to €939m, helped by milder winters boosting volumes in the first and in the last quarters. Cement volumes rose as the trading environment improved as well as from improving product mix, both in terms of product and geography. The final quarter was particularly strong, with shipments increasing by almost 8% and re-visiting the record levels of 2003. In other activities, which increased turnover by 18.6%, the transport operations showed the strongest performance. Cement’s share of the French turnover declined from 51.3% to 50.2% as the other activities performed more strongly. Expect a 3% price increase in 2012 to hold, even if the market may slow a little.
In the rest of Europe, turnover improved by 26.8% to €403m, boosted by a strong Swiss currency. The Swiss cement turnover advanced by 12.4%, but excluding the exchange rate effect the increase was a modest 0.4%. On a non-consolidated basis, the cement turnover did rise by almost 11%. Cement volumes increased by in excess of 5%. Italy showed a good recovery after the 45.5% drop in turnover in the previous year and the sales figure recovered by 26.0%, helped by a strong final quarter.
The United States turnover declined by 1.5% to €165m, but improved by 3.3% on an underlying basis. The cement turnover fell by 8.4%, with Alabama being a very difficult market. Volumes recovered by just over 3%. Cement prices to be raised by US$5 on 1.4.21. Some improvement, however, was seen in the final quarter, when turnover in local currency rose by 20.2%.
Turnover in Turkey declined by 6.5% to €195m, but on an underlying basis, there was a 9.3% increase. The underlying Turkish cement turnover rose by more than 13%, helped by firmer prices. Domestic deliveries were about 4% higher in volume terms, but exports were well down (by 40%+). In the final quarter, turnover advanced by 14.7m.
A first full year’s contribution from Bharathi Cement in India produced a turnover of €126.4m, giving an organic growth rate of more than 90% and the company sold in excess of two million tonnes of cement. Prices showed a strong improvement during the year. Vicat Sagar Cement will come on stream in 2012, but only limited volume this year. In Kazakhstan the 1.1Mta Jambul Cement works went into full production in April and in excess of 0.5Mt of cement was produced during the year.
The West African and Egyptian turnover declined up by 6.8% to €411m. In Egypt, turnover dropped by 33.3% to some €139m and volumes contracted by around 15.0%, with a similar rate of decline being seen in prices, in response to increased capacity being there to serve reduced demand in response to the unclear domestic situation in Egypt. In the final quarter of last year, volumes fell by around 28% and prices by about 23%. Visibility in Egypt is pretty poor.
In West Africa, turnover advanced by 19.0%, as cement shipments increased by 6.2%. The average price was a little lower, in part reflecting a different geographical mix. During the final quarter an underlying increase in cement shipments of 10.9% was seen.
The full results will be announced on the 2 March 2012.
