Cementos Portland Valderrivas reduces losses

Spain’s Cementos Portland Valderrivas cut losses by nearly 99 per cent to EUR0.6m (US$0.8m) despite a sharp decline in domestic cement demand. In the 1H12, the company had made losses of EUR48.6m.

Valderrivas also swapped assets with Ireland’s CRH in 1H13, which provided capital gains of EUR104.8m.

Valderrivas chairman and CEO José Luis Sáenz de Miera said: “Results for the first half reflect efforts last year to reduce costs in Spain, where demand continues to shrink, and to improve efficiency in operations in the US, where consumption of construction materials is on the rise.”

The company has further plans to adapt to the market. The group has booked €60.8m in provisions for asset writedowns and workforce restructuring. As well as redundancies, wage cuts will be applied to executives as from this month and to the rest of the workforce in the coming months. Other measures include the temporary shutdown of plants.