Our debt is no longer a problem in itself

Bernd Scheifele just beginning to blow. The pattern of Heidelberg Cement was glad to see 2009 is complete. Penalized by a decrease in brutal in its order books, stifled under a mountain of debts, strangled by its banks, the leader even had to adapt to the suicide of its majority shareholder, Adolf Merckle. The worst however seems to be passed to the third world cement...

The global crisis has not spared your sector. Have you been surprised by the magnitude of the recession

I was very surprised by the global dimension of this crisis. I didn't think that the explosion of the housing bubble in the United States would have an impact in China or Australia. Our industry has registered a slowdown in activity without precedent since the second world war. The U.S. cement market fell by 45 over the past two years. In 2009, Britain recorded a decline of almost 40 and the Germany of 10.

How your group through this crisis

We have lost almost 3 billion euros in sales in 2009. Our gross margin approaching 50, this should lead to a fall of 1.5 billion euros of our profits. We did however posted only a drop of 850 million euros of our operating result the savings identified by our "fitness" program 2009. We were set a goal of reducing our cost of EUR 250 million; We have reached 550 million at the end of year 2009. We have notably reduced our costs of EUR 260 million separating of approximately 7,000 employees.

You had to complete an important refinancing plan...

I can tell you that this was the experience of a lifetime. The lesson that we have learned is that it is essential to never depend on banks. Some had a questionable behavior in this regard. We were exposed to the speculative games of some financial actors while we have never ceased to generate cash. The financial crisis and recovery in the banking sector by States hand drained our sources of funding. It was very complicated, but we arrived there.

To repay the credit you you are therefore turned to financial markets. Has it been difficult to convince them

The Anglo-Saxon quickly understood that we are a global company specializing in a cyclical industry that would soon meet the head. We thus managed to place shares with a value of EUR 4.4 billion in the financial markets and to raise capital EUR 2.3 billion. This is the biggest operation of the kind in Germany since Deutsche Telekom in 2000. Our debt is no longer a problem in itself.

The suicide in January 2009 of your majority shareholder Adolf Merckle, was a new blow...

I been very affected by this suicide. I realize now that there were ominous signs. But see it put an end to his days me surprised.

The count Merckle family - it keep the 25 that holds your capital

I think because it's a good investment. Two sons of Adolf Merckle always sit on our Board of Directors, but, like their father, they are not the day-to-day management.

Rumors about a takeover of your group by Holcim ran long. Are they based

It was a pure fantasy. I do not think that Holcim had never imagined such an operation. The four major global cement can simply not move for reasons of competition. And then find a sufficient sum to us by the time running is simply impossible.