Lafarge business cold-bitten in Romania

Lafarge has seen sales of construction supplies in Romania and other countries shrink considerably. The French group logged a 14.4% drop in Q1, 2003 turnover to 2.69bn euros. “Compared with the record figures in Q1, 2002, the cement sales have fallen on most markets. The prolonged winter made a major impact on the constructions sector, with the sales of construction supplies seriously shrinking in France, Greece, North America, Poland and Romania,” the officials say in a statement published on the corporate website. The 2002/2003 winter in Romania seemingly hit mostly those companies conducting works in open spaces. “The prolonged winter has caused trouble especially for those that had to cast concrete or cement in large spaces, that is the companies operating in these fields,” Florian Florescu, Arcom SA Bucharest constructions company economic manager explained. ZF