Skip to main content

Vicat net profit up nearly 60%

French cement, concrete and aggregates group Vicat posted a 59.4% increase in net income for the first half of 2018. Net income in H1 totalled €59million, compared with €40mn for H2 2017. Vicat says the solid performance was helped by growth in Turkey, the United States, France and Kazakhstan. Consolidated sales in H1 2018 totalled €1,281mn, up 2.7% on the same period of 2017. In H1 the cement business posted a 9.7% increase in operational sales at constant scope and exchange rates and a 1.3% increase on
August 8, 2018 Read time: 3 mins

French cement, concrete and aggregates group Vicat posted a 59.4% increase in net income for the first half of 2018.

Net income in H1 totalled €59million, compared with €40mn for H2 2017. Vicat says the solid performance was helped by growth in Turkey, the United States, France and Kazakhstan.

Consolidated sales in H1 2018 totalled €1,281mn, up 2.7% on the same period of 2017.

In H1 the cement business posted a 9.7% increase in operational sales at constant scope and exchange rates and a 1.3% increase on a reported basis. Operational sales in the concrete & aggregates business grew 5.4% at constant scope and exchange rates, whereas they were stable on a reported basis (-0.1%). Operational sales in the other products & services business rose by 12.5% at constant scope and exchange rates by 8.4% on a reported basis.

The cement business accounted for 51.2% of Vicat Group's operational sales in H1 2018 compared with 51.5% in the first half of 2017. There was also a slight decrease in the contribution from the concrete & aggregates business (33.7% versus 34.4% in the year-earlier period) and a higher contribution from other products & services to 15.0% (14.1% in H1 2017).

Guy Sidos, chairman and CEO of Vicat Group, said that in India the group benefited from the start of work on new infrastructure projects in a particularly competitive environment at the beginning of the year. In Switzerland, adverse weather conditions and the end of some large projects meant that performance decreased in H1.

He added: "The group’s business in Egypt was held back by military operations aimed at restoring security in the region where its production is based, that will allow the group to resume its progress in this market, where the medium-term outlook is very promising. On this basis, the Vicat Group expects to deliver improved performance in full-year 2018.”

Group EBITDA rose by 12.3% in H1 to €197mn. This was helped by a 63.1% jump in the US driven by solid growth in volumes and average selling prices in both cement and concrete.

There was also a 135.5% surge in EBITDA in Turkey, with weather conditions much more favourable than in the first half of 2017 and strong business momentum in the group’s client sectors.

France saw a 19.3% EBITDA increase resulting from a sharp improvement in the concrete & aggregates business, supported in particular by an upturn in concrete prices combined with solid EBITDA growth in the cement business.

Kazakhstan posted 45.4% EBITDA growth based on a significant increase in volumes and selling prices.

Related Content

  • Austria’s Asfinag sets out five-year investment plan
    May 13, 2019
    Austria’s road financing company Autobahnen- und Schnellstrassen-Finanzierungs (Asfinag) will invest around €8 billion in roads and motorways by 2024. Annual net profits stood at €824 million and debt was reduced by €235 million. Toll income was up 6.9% for trucks and busses to around €1.5 billion and for cars by 4.6% to around €690 million. Major future projects include the Vienna south-east tangent and the western motorway A1 as well as reconstruction of the motorway between Innsbruck and the German bor
  • Can ADAS impact middle-income countries?
    September 20, 2013
    Recent research by SBD shows that road-related fatalities are the eighth leading cause of death globally with more than a million people dying each year. Middle income countries, which include most ASEAN economies, account for 72 per cent of the world’s population and contribute to about 80 per cent of road traffic fatalities.
  • 2013 set to be record year for transport infrastructure deals
    November 15, 2013
    Deal values for global transactions of transport infrastructure assets including airports, ports and road operations have risen steeply since the beginning of the year with 2013 poised to be a record year for transport infrastructure deals, according to an analysis by global advisory firm KPMG. The first half of 2013 saw global deals of infrastructure assets worth US$16.6 billion, by the end of the third quarter this figure had risen to US$23.5 billion, which already exceeds total annual deal values fo
  • Study shows significant savings from combining bus and HOT lanes
    August 2, 2013
    David Crawford looks at some radical thinking that could see self-financing mass transit in Florida. Toll and transit agencies in the Tampa metro area on the west coast of the US State of Florida, have joined forces to put forward a pioneering combined bus and toll lane (BTL) scheme. The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority is working in partnership with regional bus operator Hillsborough Area Regional Transit on the plans of which should be finalised this autumn. The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Author