We report hereunder the ad-hoc-release issued today by the subsidiary Dyckerhoff AG, according to Article 15 Securities Trading Act (WpHG).

Key figures of the Dyckerhoff Group:

In the first half of 2009 group sales went down by 32%. The long and cold winter in Western Europe and in parts of Eastern Europe as well as the global economic crisis led to volume declines. In particular, Russia and Ukraine were hit hard. Accordingly, group sales decreased in all divisions.

EBITDA declined by 51 % and amounted to EUR 136 million. This amount included positive one-time effects of EUR 26 million in all. There was a particularly strong one-time effect, amounting to EUR 37 million, from the release of the provision for the current antitrust suit in Germany. With increased net interest and other financial expenses, the result before income taxes decreased by EUR 135 million to EUR 59 million. Accordingly the half-year net profit went down to EUR 45 million.

For 2009 as a whole, Dyckerhoff expects group sales to drop as low as EUR 1.4 billion, due to the difficult economic situation particularly in Russia, Ukraine and the USA. The EBITDA margin will be slightly over 20% and return on sales slightly over 7%.

The complete interim report will be released on August 3, 2009 at noon.

Company contacts:
Investor Relations Assistant
Mariangiola Fiore
Phone +39 0142 416 404
Email  mfiore@buzziunicem.it