HeidelbergCement shares fall as group warns of fourth-quarter weakness
Reuters
Published Nov 07, 2019 14:17
HeidelbergCement shares fall as group warns of fourth-quarter weakness
BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - HeidelbergCement (DE:HEIG), the world's No.2 cement maker after LafargeHolcim (S:LHN), warned on Thursday of a weak end to the year, sending its shares to the bottom of Germany's benchmark DAX index (GDAXI).
"We're observing a weakening of the global economy in our business," said Chief Executive Bernd Scheifele, who will step down in February after 15 years at the helm of the company, adding there had not been a recovery in October.
"Overall, we also expect the fourth quarter to be rather muted in terms of sales volumes," Scheifele added, pointing to weak activity in Germany, France and Britain, which suffers from ongoing uncertainty related to Brexit.
The comments drove shares down as much as 4.9%. At 1348 GMT, they were trading 4.6% lower, with traders pointing to third-quarter sales of 5.06 billion euros (£4.36 billion), which were flat on a like-for-like basis.
Scheifele also sounded a more cautious note than LafargeHolcim CEO Jan Jenisch, who said last month that The outlook for 2020 remained good despite problems seen by manufacturers.
HeidelbergCement's third-quarter profit from current operations was still up 3% at 835 million euros, helped by cost cuts, including the slashing of up to 500 administrative jobs around the world.
Get The App
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.