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

  • IBTTA summit hits right notes in Salzburg
    December 5, 2018
    In the birthplace of Mozart, Colin Sowman found that delegates at the IBTTA’s inaugural World Tolling Summit were playing a variety of interesting tunes The first World Tolling Summit took place in Salzburg, Austria this autumn. Created and organised by the International Bridge Tolling and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), the event was supported by its European counterpart Asecap and hosted by Austria’s tolling authority, Asfinag. The transfer of views, experience and practice both ways across the Atl
  • Fleet management systems in the Americas ‘will exceed 13 million units by 2019’
    November 10, 2015
    According to a new research report from analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of active fleet management systems deployed in commercial vehicle fleets in North America was 4.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.5 percent, this number is expected to reach 9.7 million by 2019. In Latin America, the number of active fleet management systems is expected to increase from 2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, growing at a CAGR of 14.6 percent to re
  • The sunshine subsidy for Colorado’s tollways
    January 10, 2014
    David Crawford reports on energy cost cutting on US highways. Just over a year after switch-on and with two global awards under its belt, the longest solar-powered toll road in the US is generating heightened interest in highway applications of alternative energy. The E-407, which loops around the eastern perimeter of the Denver metropolitan area in Colorado, won the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) President’s Overall Award for Excellence at its September 2013 Annual Meeting in
  • NTTA: Diversity boosts access & opportunity
    November 3, 2021
    North Texas Tollway Authority has won IBTTA’s first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award. But what made the organisation’s focus on disadvantaged, minority and woman business enterprises stand out?