HeidelbergCement announces mid-term strategic priorities and financial targets

HeidelbergCement announced new mid-term strategic priorities and financial targets for the five-year period until 2019. On the back of the positive outlook for the current fiscal year and a strong asset base, the group aims to increase group revenue from 12.6 billion € in 2014 to more than 17 billion € by 2019. Over the same period, operating EBITDA is expected to grow from 2.3 billion € to more than 4 billion €.

Following the successful deleveraging over the past years, the company also intends to further shift its priorities for capi-tal allocation towards disciplined growth and increased shareholder returns. The group projects cumulative free cash flow of about 8.8 billion € for the period from 2015 to 2019. Of this amount, it intends  to  invest  approximately  2.5 billion € in organic growth while using approximately 1 billion € to keep leverage in a range which supports a solid investment grade rating. More than 2 billion € is to be allocated to shareholders through progressive dividend payments. In this context, HeidelbergCement intends to raise the pay-out ratio from 29 % for fiscal year 2014 to between 40 % and 45 % for fiscal year 2019. Further available cash may be allocated to acquisitions or returned to shareholders through share buy-backs.

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