France's Lafarge, the world's biggest cement maker, said its third-quarter net profit was down 10% to €336m but sales inched up 1% to €4.2 billion.
Lafarge said that its year-to-date net profit was down 22% to €596m at the end of the third quarter, while sales were up 2% to €11.47 billion.
"In the current economic environment, the group continues to be proactive and already secured over two billion euros of divestments as part of its actions to reduce debt," chief executive Bruno Lafont said.
"These efforts will continue and today the group is announcing a new €500m cost reduction programme. These measures, including price actions in response to a high cost environment, are part of ongoing steps to strengthen profitability, reduce debt and maintain strong liquidity," he added.
Lafarge said it continues to see cement demand growing and maintains its estimate of market growth of between 2-5% in 2011.
