Family business round up: ERG, Italmobiliare, BMW and Titan Cement

Wind power boosts Italian energy group ERG, revenue is down at Italmobiliare Group, BMW brand performs well for BMW Group and Greece-based Titan Cement performs well despite economic woes at home.

ERG

Wind power has boosted core earnings at Italian energy group ERG, up 29% to €120 million in the second quarter.

The company bought two wind farms in Eastern Europe during the quarter and is building another farm in Romania. In February it completed the acquisition of GDF Suez, which made it Italy’s largest player in the wind energy sector.

This year ERG has sold down its stake in oil refinery ISAB to reduce its exposure to the volatile sector.

The company confirmed its full year adjusted EBITDA target is at least €500 million.

Italmobiliare Group

Italian conglomerate Italmobiliare Group has suffered from economic uncertainty in Europe, with first half profits down on the previous year.

Revenue was at €2.3 billion compared to €2.4 billion for the same period the previous year.

The group’s food packaging and thermal insulation arm was the only part of the group to see revenue growth, unlike the construction, financial and banking arms where revenues were down.

BMW

The BMW Group saw sales up in the second quarter of 2013, with more than half a million vehicles sold in the quarter. The BMW brand performed particularly strongly selling 422,844 units, up 8.3% on the same period last year.

Group revenues for the quarter rose 1.8% to €19.6 billion, but were down 1.1% for the first six months of the year, at €37.1 billion.

The group said economic uncertainty, partly due to a possible slowdown in growth in China, meant it was difficult to forecast the group’s outlook for the year, but it said pre-tax profit should be similar to 2012, which was €77 billion.

Titan Cement

Turnover improved for the fifth consecutive quarter at Greek cement and building supplies producer Titan Cement, up 2% year-on-year to €329 million.

For the first half, turnover was at €571.9 million, up 4.4% on the same period last year. This was attributed to a robust recovery in the US and resilient demand in Egypt, which mitigated the continued decline in the Greek market.

The group noted, however, the decline in value of local currencies, especially the Egyptian pound against the euro, had a negative impact on results.