Swiss at Holcim get 26m-euro dividends

Holcim Romania, the local subsidiary of the Swiss Holcim group made 111.14 million RON (30.2 million euro) net profit in 2008, down about 3% from 2007 and will disburse 85% of it as dividends to shareholders, according to the data provided by the company.

The company therefore achieved an 8% net margin, considering the turnover in 2008 stood at 372 million euros, an increase of 25% on 2007. The shareholders of Holcim Romania – the Swiss group owns more than 99% in the Romanian subsidiary, at the end of May decided to disburse dividends worth 94.4 million RON (25.6 million euros). The money will reach the shareholders in no more than six months from the decision date, May 27. Under the circumstances, the Swiss will not reinvest the profit from 2008, even though they had announced total investments worth 33 million RON in the development of their operations on the Romanian market this year. The decision comes after the Swiss group, which operates on the local cement, aggregate and concrete markets, last year finalised investments of more than 543 million euros in the development, upgrade and expansion of the production facilities and environment protection, conducted over the last eleven years. The value of the investments is about five times higher than the 116 million euros used for acquisitions. The biggest investments went to the factory in Campulung, 253.8 million euros, where Holcim built the biggest kiln in Eastern Europe, with a capacity of about 2 million tonnes of cement a year and one of the tallest industrial buildings in Romania considering the preheating tower stands 135 metres tall. Massive investments were also made in the factory in Alesd, taken over from French Lafarge group in 2000, where Holcim allocated 129.1 million euros to upgrade the production facility. Holcim’s main competitors on the domestic market are Lafarge (France) and Heidelbergcement (Germany), with the local Carpatcement Holding division.