Slow build

2 March 2018 By Aimee Donnellan Follow @aimeedonnellan

The new boss of the world’s largest cement maker has scrapped a share buyback and set the group’s EBITDA growth target at 5 pct. Jan Jenisch can probably do better. Still, given LafargeHolcim’s various headaches since its merger the conservatism is understandable.

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LafargeHolcim’s new chief executive unveiled a plan on March 2 to revamp the world’s biggest cement group, setting new targets for sales and announcing plans to shut down corporate offices.

The new five-year strategy targets annual sales growth of 3 to 5 percent, recurring EBITDA growth of at least 5 percent, improvement in free cash flow to over 40 percent EBITDA and aims to boost the return on invested capital to more than 8 percent.

The Swiss group shut down its share buyback programme and took a 3.8 billion Swiss Franc impairment charge during the fourth quarter as the new boss Jan Jenisch cleared the way for his overhaul.

Shares in the 33 billion company fell 4.5 percent from Thursday’s close to 52.6 Swiss Francs on March 2 at 0850 GMT.

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