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[August 2003]
Good Half-Year Result for Refractories Group
RHI AG said that in the first half of 2003, group sales revenue amounted to €613.4 million, down from €670.1 million in the first half of 2002. The decline resulted primarily from the sale of Engineering as of 30 June 2002. €516.7 million (previous year: €526.2 million) of consolidated sales revenue were accounted for by RHI Refractories; the slight drop was exclusively due to the significant change in the US dollar/euro relation over the past year.
Refractories EBIT amounted to €59.2 million in the reporting period (previous year: €54 million). The EBIT margin in RHI's core business thus reached what the group considered a good 11.5% increase despite the negative effects of the weak US dollar, following 10.3% in the first half of 2002.
Insulating reported sales revenue of €77.4 million, still slightly below the 2002 figure of €77.8 million because of limited construction activities at the beginning of the year due to low temperatures. EBIT in the Insulating Division, at €1.1 million, exceeded the level of the previous year (€400,000) due to positive restructuring and cost cutting effects and despite adverse market conditions.
ENDS