Wienerberger SEE revenues up 18 percent in the first half of the year

Bricks manufacturer Wienerberger reported an 18 percent increase in brick sales and 25 percent increase in payment deliveries in the first half of this year. In between July 2010 and July 2011 the company posted total revenues for the South East Europe region of EUR 273 million. Within the same timeframe, the company’s operational profit went up 45 percent for the same region, reaching EUR 44 million. Wienerberger’s SEE markets include Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Finland, the Baltic States, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. The company’s global revenues went up in the first six months of thus year by 19 percent to EUR 986 million, while the operational profit increased to EUR 123 million.

Through the end of the year the company expects Romania to remain a difficult market.

“We assume the first six-month trends in the individual markets will generally continue through the end of 2011,” reads the company’s latest report. In Poland moderate growth of single family housing construction is expected for 2011. Construction activity in Russia, Finland and the Baltic States should continue to expand, while further weakness is forecasted for Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and the smaller countries of Southeast Europe. “We expect a positive impact in the second half-year from an improvement in average prices, since the moderate price adjustments implemented in 2011 are gradually taking hold and will increasingly offset the negative base effect from the 2010 price reductions. In total, we are expecting an increase in revenues and earnings in the Central-East Europe segment for the full year,” the same source reads.