LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - European lime and minerals group SigmaRoc on Monday reported a big jump in first-half profits despite a challenging market backdrop, but said it doesn't expect an improvement in conditions before the end of the year.
Underlying revenues were up 13.4% year-on-year at £510.3m in the six months to 30 June, helped by a strong performance in the UK and Ireland where the business outperformed versus the general market.

However, on a proforma basis, which includes non-continuing operations from last year, revenues were actually down 1.1% at £510.3m.

Core volumes were down 3% due to softness in the construction and steel markets along with some temporary external headwinds such as customer maintenance shutdowns.

Underlying EBITDA improved 21.2% to £117.8m, helped by a 150-basis point increase in the EBITDA margin to 23.1%. Underlying pre-tax profit jumped 41.6% to £67.4m.

Looking ahead, the second half is expected to be similar in terms of underlying market conditions, which were mixed in the Nordics and Poland, while Belgian and German markets saw historically low levels of demand.

"Following a robust first half, achieved despite challenging market conditions, we enter the second half with cautious optimism," said chief executive Max Vermoken.

"With 2.7 billion tonnes of high-quality resource, essential to Europe's construction, industrial and environmental markets, SigmaRoc is well positioned to capitalise on increasing volumes when they occur."

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