2025, Holcim announced that it would acquire Xella Group, a European leader in sustainable and new wall and insulation materials, for 1.85 billion euros ( $2.2 billion), which is expected to be completed in 2026. Holcim's acquisition aims to accelerate the company's major strategic transformation from a traditional cement manufacturer to a provider of sustainable building solutions. In March
2021, Holcim Group acquired Firestone Building Products, an American roofing material manufacturer, and released the "2025: Accelerating Green Growth" strategic development plan in November of the same year, proposing the strategic goal of transforming from a global leader in building materials to a global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions. In order to achieve this goal, Holcim Group will accelerate the scale growth of building solutions business through strategic investment and acquisition, and plan to achieve 30% of the group's net sales by 2025.
First, the revenue of building solutions business increased significantly, contributing more than 40% of the profit increment
. In 2020, the net sales of Holcim Group was 23.14 billion Swiss francs. Among them, cement, aggregate and ready-mixed concrete and other building materials business achieved a total revenue of 21.28 billion Swiss francs, accounting for 92%, while building solutions business accounted for only 8%. Guided
by the strategic development goals, Holcim Group has continuously optimized its asset structure, divested its cement business from Asia, South America and Africa, and acquired a large number of downstream construction related targets in Europe and North America, resulting in significant changes in its business structure. In
2024, Holcim Group's net sales reached CHF 26.41 billion, an increase of 14.1% compared to 2020. Among them, the sales of cement business was 11.67 billion Swiss francs, which decreased by 16.5% compared with 2020, and the proportion decreased from 60% to 44%. The sales of aggregate and ready-mixed concrete business increased, and the overall proportion did not change much; Sales of building solutions business reached 5.92 billion Swiss francs, an increase of 217.0% compared with 2020, accounting for an increase of 14 percentage points to 22%.
Figure 1: Revenue share of each business segment of Holcim Group in 2020-2024 (Unit:%)
Data source: Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/)
In 2025, Holcim Group will complete the spin-off and listing of its North American business. After the completion of the spin-off, the proportion of building solutions business further increased. As of the first half of 2025, Holcim Group's construction solutions business accounted for 36% of net sales, and has achieved its phased strategic objectives. The
rapidly expanding building solutions business segment has become the main source of profit growth for Holcim Group in recent years. Holcim Group achieved a profit from continuing operations before interest and tax of CHF 5.05 billion in
2024, an increase of CHF 1.37 billion compared to 2020. Among them, the building solutions business contributed 560 million Swiss francs in profit growth, accounting for 40.7% of the total profit growth, significantly higher than other business sectors.
Figure 2: Holcim Group EBIT Growth Composition (Unit:%)
Source: Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/)
Despite the rapid profit growth of the construction solutions business, However, whether in terms of profit margin or total profit, cement business is still the most valuable business sector of Holcim Group at this stage. During the period from
2020 to 2024, the continuous operating profit margin before interest and tax of Holcim Group's cement business increased from 20.7% to 26.4%, which has always been the most profitable part of the Group's business sectors. Even after years of strategic transformation, the proportion of continuous operating profit before interest and tax in the cement business sector in 2024 is still close to 70%. At the same time, the ongoing operating profit margin before interest and tax of the construction solutions business has gradually improved to 11.1%, but the profit margin and total profit are still lower than those of the cement and aggregate business.
Figure 3: Profit margin from continuing operations before interest and tax of each business segment of Holcim Group in 2020-2024 (Unit:%)
Data source: Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/)
Holcim Group chooses to actively reduce intensive cultivation The scale of cement sector business, which has obvious profit advantages for many years, has been greatly expanded in the field of construction solutions, in fact, in exchange for strategic transformation space with short-term profit increment. Thus, short-term business scale or profit growth is not the core factor to promote its strategic transformation.
From the perspective of Holcim Group's strategic planning and business trends, the constraints of the net zero carbon emission target may be the fundamental reason for its transformation from a global leader in building materials to a global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions.
Holcim Group has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and the cement business currently generates more than 90% of its total carbon emissions. Existing decarbonization technologies in the cement industry, including substitution of raw materials and fuels, can only reduce carbon emissions in the production process, and more than 50% of carbon emissions still need to be achieved through large-scale deployment of carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies.
The International Energy Agency estimates that the cost of implementing carbon capture in the cement industry is around $60-120 per ton. Although the continuing operating profit margin before interest and tax of Holcim Group's cement business is still between 20% and 30%, if measures such as carbon capture are implemented, the high cost of carbon reduction will greatly erode the profit margin. Therefore, shrinking the scale of cement business is a necessary and economically reasonable way to achieve the goal of net zero carbon emissions. In addition, the strategic contraction in the field of cement business has also brought financial support for Holcim Group to implement strategic transformation, reducing the dependence on external financing in the process of transformation.
Under the strict energy and carbon reduction policy requirements of the European Union, the building maintenance and renovation market has great potential for development. The transformation of Holcim Group to the field of construction solutions will help to make up for the gap caused by the contraction of cement business and ensure that the overall performance of the Group will maintain stable growth. At the same time, as an important link in the downstream industry chain of the cement industry, the construction solutions business provides a sales channel for Holcim Group's low-carbon cement products to ensure a stable market demand for its building materials products developed under the carbon reduction plan.
As a result of the strategic transformation, the carbon emissions generated by Holcim Group's unit income decreased from 5.1 kg/CHF in 2020 to 2.8 kg/CHF in 2024, and the carbon emission intensity of income decreased by more than 45%, laying a solid foundation for achieving net zero carbon emissions.
Figure 4: Carbon intensity of Holcim Group revenues in 2020-2024 (kg/CHF,
Source: Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/)
III. Planning guidance for the next five years, continuous expansion
of construction solutions business March 2025. Holcim Group released the "Next Generation Growth 2030" strategic development plan, which plans to further expand the scale of high-value building solutions business and increase its revenue share to 50% on the premise of achieving an average annual net sales growth of 3% -5%. At the same time, the proportion of sales of low-carbon products in the cement and ready-mixed concrete business sector will be increased to more than 50%.
Under the guidance of the new five-year strategic plan, Holcim Group will further optimize and adjust its business structure and continue to maintain its strategic investment and acquisition efforts in the field of construction solutions. The intensity of capital expenditure is expected to remain at a high level, which does not exclude the possibility of further divestiture of existing cement assets.
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