(Hong Kong, 13 March 2016) – China Resources Cement Holdings Limited ("China Resources Cement" or the "Company", SEHK stock code: 1313, and together with its subsidiaries, the "Group"), one of the leading cement and concrete producers in Southern China, announced its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2015.
In 2015, the Company's consolidated turnover amounted to HK$26,778.7 million, representing a decrease of 18.0% over last year. Profit attributable to owners of the Company amounted to HK$1,015.0 million, representing a decrease of 75.9% over last year. Basic earnings per share reached HK$0.155. The Board recommends the payment of a final dividend of HK$0.02per share for the year ended 31 December 2015 (2014: HK$0.10 per share). As at 31 December 2015, the total assets of the Group were HK$54,216.8 million, the net gearing ratio was 63.8% and the net assets per share was HK$4.07.
In 2015, our external sale volume of cement, clinker and concrete are 76.7 million tons, 4.6 million tons, and 12.3 million m3, representing an increase of 6.5%, decrease of 21.7% and decrease of 22.7% respectively over 2014. During the year, demand for cement products was sluggish due to slowdown in economic growth in China. Cement prices have been sliding continually from the beginning of the year and did not improve after entering the normal peak season in the fourth quarter. The average selling prices of cement and clinker were HK$269.9 per ton and HK$203.2 per ton, representing decreases of 20.2% and 24.0% respectively over last year. The average selling price of concrete decreased by 1.4% to HK$416.8 per m3. The consolidated gross margin was 24.0%, representing a decrease of 7.3 percentage points from 31.3% for 2014. Net margin of the Group for 2015 was 3.5%, which was 9.1 percentage points lower than that of 12.6% for 2014. Since 11 August 2015, the People's Bank of China has implemented a series of adjustments to the RMB central parity fixing mechanism which led to significant depreciation of RMB against other major currencies within a short period of time. An exchange loss of HK$902.9 million was generated from non-RMB net borrowings for the year.
