Reuters reported that Danish engineer FLSmidth kept its full year guidance unchanged when reporting a surprise drop in Q2 profit hit by unrest in North Africa.

Earnings before interest and tax fell 15% to DKK 404 million in April to June missing all forecasts in a Reuters poll which were in DKK 446 million to DKK 542 million range.

FLSmidth, a supplier of engineering services and equipment to the global cement and minerals industries, said that unrest in North Africa had put a dampener on investment in the region hitting its Cement division's orders in the H1. For the same reason, the progress of ongoing projects in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya is delayed.

Mr Lars Huno Rasmussen CEO of FLSmidth said that revenues in FLSmidth's Cement division fell 20% in the first 6 months of 2011 from the same period last year while its Minerals division revenues grew 17%. In Cement, revenues are lower because of delayed projects in North Africa.

Mr Rasmussen said that the problems in North Africa were particularly in Libya and the company's operations were back to full strength in Egypt and Tunisia after unrest there. But in Libya we do not know when we can come back, and we had some big projects under way there.

FLSmidth said that the level of cement activity remains high in a number of emerging markets in South America, Africa and Asia but India is seeing signs of a temporary slowdown in growth. The company stood by its earlier view that the cement plant market in 2011 would equal about 65 million tonnes per year of new contracted cement kiln capacity worldwide exclusive of China. High metals prices continue to have a positive impact on mining companies' investment plans.

The company said that in 2011, increasing investments in the minerals industry is still expected compared to 2010 despite the current uncertainty regarding global growth. A high level of activity is expected particularly in crushing, grinding and materials handling, notably in the coal, copper and iron ore segments.

(Sourced from Reuters)