Compared with a strong January and February 2019, HeidelbergCement sales volumes increased in all business lines in the first two months of 2020. From mid-March, however, company sales volumes were significantly impaired by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, such as state-imposed production downtimes and construction stoppages on significant infrastructure projects.
“With COPE, we have launched a comprehensive action plan across the Group at the end of February that focuses on cost savings and on maintaining our high level of liquidity. This includes, for example, minimising all non-essential expenses, reducing personnel costs, voluntary reductions in management salaries, restrictions on investments, and reduced tax payments. Our objective is to reduce expenses by €1 billion with these measures.” - Dr. Dominik von Achten