H+H reports earnings, divests in Finland

Danish autoclaved aerated concrete or aircrete producer H+H international A/S (CPH: HH) reported Q1 2012 earnings on Thursday. Revenue climbed 7% to 297 million DKK and EBITDA remained slightly on the minus. Compared to last year, earnings were higher in UK, Germany, the Czech Republic, Russia and Sweden, but lower in Poland, Finland and Denmark. Loss before taxes of 36 million DKK is 10 million less than in the same period last year. There was a particular slowdown in Poland after distributors were building their stocks in December.

The company is still guiding for 2012 EBITDA of 110-140 million DKK before special items. The free cash flow is expected to be positive from 0 to 20 million DKK before disposal of assets. Should the current situation develop into a banking crisis with weak mortgage availability, the sales volumes would be majorly affected. This would be proportionally less than in 2008-2009 as the markets haven’t yet recovered from that shock. Total investments are expected to be around 50 million DKK.

Couple days before the interim report, the company said it has entered into a conditional agreement to sell house-building activities of Finnish subsidiary Jämerä-kivitalot Oy to Estonian aircrete producer Aeroc Group. The companies have entered into relevant supply agreements concerning their aircrete products in the Nordic region. The decision to divest these activities was made last year.