Greece's biggest cement producer Titan posted an
unexpected profit drop for the fourth quarter, as falling business and increased bad debts at home outweighed higher sales in Egypt.Net profit reached 3.9 million euros ($5.5 million) versus 19.7 million in the same year-ago period, the company said on Thursday. The reading was far below a forecast for 19.2 million euros in a Reuters poll.
Construction in Greece, the company's biggest market, has plummeted as the debt-laden country goes through an austerity-fuelled recession, its biggest in almost four decades.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) from Greek operations plunged by a 69 percent to 10.6 million euros, weighed by 18 million euros of higher bad-debt provisions.
Titan has been counting on growth in new markets such as Egypt and Turkey to offset building slumps in Greece and the United States, where it also has operations.
Full-year EBITDA in Egypt and Turkey accounted for 44 percent of the group's total, up from 31 percent in the same period last year.
Recent unrest in Egypt has raised concerns about the company's prospects there but Titan said business had not suffered from the upheaval.
"The group's production and commercial activities were not disrupted during the crisis and continue at normal levels," the company said in a statement. Sales and EBITDA in Egypt were flat year on year in Jan-Feb, the company said in a presentation. Titan said it would slash its dividend as it saves cash and cuts costs to further reduce its debt, which stood at 777 million euros at the end of the year, about 2.5 times EBITDA.
Titan said it would pay a dividend of 0.08 euros a share on 2010 earnings, lower than the 0.18 euros paid last year. Management said it also plans to return an additional 8.7 million euros to shareholders through a capital return for tax reasons.
source: REUTERS
