Chairman and CEO of Cementos Portland Valderrivas, Dieter Kiefer, announced at the General Meeting of Shareholders in Pamplona today that the company maintains its commitment to obtain an EBITDA margin of close to 28% and over 200 million euro in cash flow, excluding financial investment and capital expenditure, in 2009.

Resolutions

The Meeting approved a supplementary dividend of 0.72 euro per share payable on 5 June 2009; together with the interim dividend of 0.70 euro per share, the total dividend is 1.42 euro per share.

As part of Portland Valderrivas' cost containment policy, the Meeting resolved to reduce the number of directors to 14. The following directors have stepped down: Concha Sierra Ordóñez, Jaime de Marichalar y Sáenz de Tejada, Fernando Falcó Fernández de Córdova, José Manuel Revuelta Lapique and Vicente Ynzenga Martínez-Dabán.

Cement industry
  

Spain's cement industry was affected in 2008 by the performance of the national economy and of the construction sector.

Apparent consumption of cement totalled 42.7 million tonnes, down 23.5% with respect to the record high set in 2007, and a radical departure from the trend of the previous years. The decline in cement consumption was the result of a significant slump in residential building and in public demand for new construction.

This performance of the Spanish market led imports to decline by 46% while exports expanded by 102%.

Climate change

Cementos Portland Valderrivas's energy strategy goes beyond mere optimisation of consumption in the face of the economic crisis. Even when the effects of the financial crisis begin to wane, high energy production costs are expected to persist in the medium term because of the economic and social costs involved in its production. Because of climate change and the shortage of fossil fuels, the company views energy consumption and use as another Group activity requiring a specific long-term strategy, as this will all impact the cement sector's development model.

Energy policy

 Cementos Portland Valderrivas follows three lines of action in this area:

• Increase of the use of alternative fuels, partially substituting the fossil fuels currently used. The aim is to reduce dependency on the price cycle of crude derivatives and prepare for the regulatory changes resulting from EU commitments with respect to the Kyoto Protocol.
• A set of immediate actions aimed at improving energy efficiency in all manufacturing processes.
• The company will focus on using wind, photovoltaic, cogeneration and hydroelectricity.
   

Cementos Portland Valderrivas  aims to replace 30% of its fossil fuel usage in the medium term, having gained extensive experience in this field after working towards this goal for several years.

Outlook

Plans for savings, containing investments and greater integration of all activities are enabling the company to weather the crisis and emerge in a stronger position to address the market recovery.

The savings plan has been implemented in all countries and business lines with a view to reducing recurring costs by 100 million euro over three years.

The goal for 2009 is to obtain recurring savings of 65 million euro. Of the almost 200 initiatives defined, analysed and evaluated, 70% correspond to activities in Spain, and the rest to the US and Tunisia.

Cementos Portland Valderrivas is confident that this policy will enable it to achieve the expected results once the economic situation begins to improve.