Holcim ups investments by 55 million euros

Construction supplies manufacturer Holcim has revised its investment plan for 2006-2008, an operation that will see the amounts allocated increase by 52%.

The local branch of the Swiss Holcim Group announced that the investments it is set to make until 2008 will exceed 160 million euros, compared with the initial estimate of 105 million euros. According to the management, the current volume of investments will cover every area of development, not just the manufacture of cement. The areas targeted are manufacturing technologies upgrades, boosting working capacities and environmental protection projects.

Holcim Romania”s management estimates turnover to have gone up by approximately 12% in 2005 from 2004, when this indicator stood at 130 million euros.

As for this year, estimates from the company”s officials point to the same growth rate being held as last year. In theory, this would mean turnover of more than 165 million euros.

“Cement consumption in Romania, although lower than in the European countries, is going up, and this proves that the Romanian economy is constantly rising. The growth pace of the domestic cement market stood at 8% in 2005, a trend we estimate will hold in 2006,” Markus Wirth, Holcim Romania general manager told ZF TRANSILVANIA. He added this trend depended upon weather conditions, however, as well as on the implementation of some major infrastructure projects.

The investments made by the construction supplies manufacturer in the factories it owns in Romania have exceed 300 million euros.

Holcim”s biggest investment project, estimated at tens of millions of euros, was the reconstruction of the factory in Alesd, which it bought from the France-based firm Lafarge in 2000.

The company will build the biggest cement drying line in Romania, in Campulung Muscel, whose annual capacity will stand at more than 1.5 million tonnes.