The building materials group Heidelberg Materials is closing two cement plants in France due to weaker demand and its targets to reduce CO2 emissions.

"The restructuring is the result of a stronger focus on low-CO2 products and a significant decline in cement sales in France," the company explained on Thursday. The Beffes site with just under 100 employees and the plant in Villiers-au-Bouin, which according to the company has 80 employees, are affected. Socially acceptable solutions are to be found for the employees, Heidelberg Materials announced. Together, the plants have an annual production capacity of 730,000 tons of cement. The energy-intensive DAX-listed company has invested more than 400 million euros in the climate-friendly conversion of its French sites since 2020.

(Report by Ilona Wissenbach, edited by Philipp Krach. If you have any queries, please contact the editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)