German building materials giant HeidelbergCement says the fast-spread of the coronavirus is making it impossible to assess the group's likely 2020 trading performance.
The global sector heavyweight posted encouraging 4% revenue growth to €18.9 billion last year, with net debt significantly reduced by €1.2 billion to €7.1 billion.
Dr. Dominik von Achten, chairman of the HeidelbergCement management board, said: “The extensive measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus require continuous adaption in the operational control of our business. We have to assess the situation day by day. At the moment, we are not able to predict how long the precautionary measures will last, and which impact is to be expected on the construction activities in each country. Against this background, a valid outlook on the 2020 business year is not possible at the moment.
“Although the environment was again challenging, we were able to improve numerous important key figures in the 2019 financial year. Especially our good profit for the financial year before non-recurring effects and the strong cash flow exceeded our expectations.
“We made also good progress in the important area of climate protection. We are on a good way to reach our reduction targets for CO2 emissions by 2030.”
