LafargeHolcim Q1 results: well done

LafargeHolcim posted slightly better-than-expected second-quarter results on Wednesday as the world's biggest cement maker sought to put a scandal over payments to armed groups in Syria behind it. It reported net income to shareholders of 787 million Swiss francs, up 96.5 percent from 400 million francs in the year-ago period.

The Franco-Swiss company reported adjusted operating profit of 1.735 billion Swiss francs ($1.82 billion) for the three months ended June 30, slightly ahead of the average estimate of 1.714 billion Swiss francs in a Reuters poll.

Beat Hess, Chairman and interim CEO said: “LafargeHolcim delivered positive earnings growth for the fifth consecutive quarter supported by favorable pricing, cost discipline and synergies.

“The unique strengths of our balanced portfolio are once again evident in our results with key countries such as the US, India, Nigeria and, notably this quarter, Mexico making significant contributions to earnings, more than offsetting headwinds in some of our markets. On that basis, and with our performance to date, we remain confident that we will achieve our full year guidance and our 2018 targets.

“In addition, our continued efforts to transform our commercial capability and improve our cost base put us in a strong position to fully capitalize on market growth.”

LafargeHolcim was formed by the €41bn merger in 2015 of Lafarge of France and Holcim of Switzerland. Over the past year, the group has been dogged by a scandal over a plant it operated in Syria until September 2014. In April, Eric Olsen resigned as chief executive to help restore calm at the company – although the company said he was not involved in or aware of any wrongdoing.