We are building our business on the knowledge of our people.
| Key facts 2007 | |
|---|
| Turnover |
10,862 EURm |
| Operating income before depreciation |
2,378 EURm |
| Operating income |
1,805 EURm |
| Number of employees |
68,000 |
| Cement sales volumes |
88 mt |
| Countries |
50 |
| Locations |
2,800 |
| Subsidiaries |
1,189 |
| Languages |
35 |
HeidelbergCement is one of the world’s leading building materials producers. Our core activities are the production of cement, concrete and aggregates.
The company was founded in Heidelberg in 1873. Up to the end of the 1960s, it operated exclusively in the south of Germany. First international steps followed with a participation in the French cement company Vicat (1968) and the acquisition of Lehigh Cement in the US (1977). The political changes in Central and Eastern Europe offered opportunities for considerable investments, especially in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine and Russia. With the purchase of the Belgian CBR in 1993, HeidelbergCement almost doubled its volume of business. The acquisition of the Scandinavian Scancem group in 1999 opened up new markets in Northern Europe, the United Kingdom, Africa and Asia. With the acquistion of a majority holding in the second-largest Indonesian cement manufacturer Indocement in 2001, HeidelbergCement strengthened significantly its position in the growth region of Southeast Asia. As a result of further acquisitions in growth markets such as China, Kazakhstan and India, the cement production capacity of HeidelbergCement today stands at about 94 million tonnes.
HeidelbergCement perceives its environmental responsibility in all market regions and aligns its actions to guidelines for Sustainable Development.
In our Corporate Mission we point out our responsibility vis-à-vis our employees, customers, investors, society and environment.
By adopting Group-wide leadership principles, we have laid the foundation for a common management culture, thereby making it clear that management at HeidelbergCement is based on shared, firm principles. Absolute priority is given to focus on customers and employees, cost awareness, speed, strength of implementation and close proximity to operating activities.
Our management culture is characterized by a strong emphasis on performance and results. Therefore, we have started to introduce a standardised remuneration system fot the Top Management with a large variable component in 2005. We hope to strengthen entrepreneurship at HeidelbergCement substantially with a high level of profit sharing. All managers now see both the positive and the negative consequences of their entrepreneurial activity much more clearly than before.