June 20, 2011- BLOMINVEST lowered its target price for the Holcim Liban (HL) shares to $16.16 from $17.49 previously and maintained a HOLD recommendation.

HL revenues have reached a new high of $227 million in 2010, growing by 9.8 percent year-on-year (y-o-y), according to a report released by BLOMINVEST Bank.

The report said HL’s gross income jumped 22 percent y-o-y to $83 million in 2010, while gross margin from sales improved to 36 percent from 33 percent in 2009. Net income showed a 22 percent y-o-y increase reaching $37 million.

HL’s net income for 2010 was close to BLOMINVEST estimates of $35 million. The report said the variance was mainly caused by an unexpectedly higher gross margin.

BLOMINVEST expected Holcim’s projected 50 percent capital reduction on the nominal value of HL’s stock to persist at least until the end of 2011.

Holcim’s extraordinary General Assembly, held in December 2010, had voted for a capital reduction of $64.7 million, or the equivalent of $3.3 per share on the 19.5 million shares which constitute HL’s share capital.

BLOMINVEST forecasted that if the company completed the capital reduction as expected, the share price of HL would decline by an amount close to the reduction ($3.3) to hover at around $14.