Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the LafargeHolcim Media Conference Call on Q3 2020 results. I'm Andre, the call's call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and one on your telephone. For operator assistance, please press star and zero. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Eva Mairinger, Head of Media Relations. Please go ahead, ma'am.
Thank you, Andre. Good morning, everyone from our side to LafargeHolcim's Q3 trading update media call. Let me now hand over the word to our CEO, Jan Jenisch, for some introductory remarks, and afterwards we're happy to take your questions. Thank you. Jan, please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, everyone, welcome to our media call for the Q3 results. Obviously, very exciting news. We are clearly above expectations in all the KPIs. I'm personally very proud how our global team has handled the pandemic and what excellent results we have achieved here in Q3 2020. When you look at the results, you can see that our demand is very resilient. We are basically back to last year levels on sales. At the same time, our action plan, health, cost, and cash has delivered results above target. All financial KPIs are ahead of last year, starting with the EBIT, which is up 10%. Also all the other figures are above last year. We're very happy to have achieved this.
If you look a bit in where the good results are coming from, you will notice that Latin America has been our biggest contributor, where sales or cement volumes are up 6%, which in the last three months. Also we are in Asia, 3% above last year, while in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, we are close to last year's level. Really very strong result. It shows how resilient the demand is for our products. It's also interesting to see that our branded products, which are sold in distribution channels and in the retail networks, are in very high demand. We have, for example, our branded bagged cements are up 5% in volumes compared to last year. This is really fantastic to see how well we are positioned here to continue business successfully. I think now going forward, we are, I would say, quite optimistic.
We have a very strong balance sheet, the strongest in the industry, ready for any opportunity which might come up. I think our decentralized and empowered business model works excellent in these times, and our footprint, especially in distribution, retail, and with the branded products, will continue to give us good demand for our products and services. At the same time, we expect latest next year that all the stimulus programs will kick in. We have plenty of announcements from the governments, from China to Australia, from India to the U.S., Latin America, and also many European countries. I'm quite confident going into the fourth quarter of the year and also into next year. I think with this, I'm sure you have plenty of questions and comments. I'm very happy to pass over to you.
The first question comes from the line of Leonard Kehnscherper from Bloomberg. Please go ahead.
Hello, good morning. You said last week that you described to acquire a bigger business for your solutions and product segment. Is there anything concrete on the horizon yet?
Nothing we can announce. We can just say we are ready. We have looked into a sizable business last year, which didn't materialize for a few reasons, and we are ready if the opportunity comes up.
Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of [Johannes Riester] from SAZ. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Looking at the elections in the United States next week, from a business point of view, what would you expect from a winner that could be Joe Biden?
Well, I think in any event, I think in the U.S., we will see a strong stimulus program for next year, which will focus on infrastructure and construction. I think this is true for both candidates. Whoever wins the race for us, I think, will be a very positive market in the U.S. next year.
What about the taxes? Biden said that he would decrease taxes once he's in office.
We have to see that. I think it's a very intense race, what we all see and follow at the moment. The question is later then, what program they really will define in details. Also, I think the question is then in the parliamentary houses, how the majority lies. I'm confident. I think they have to, the U.S. especially, they have to do everything to support the economy, and this will be good for LafargeHolcim.
When Trump came in office, I remember that you and many of your colleagues were very confident that his announcements also, including infrastructure programs, would give you a push. Did this help, in fact, materialize if you look back through the past four years?
Yes, we had a very good market. You see from our numbers, North America has been our highest return regions in recent years. Has been very good for us. In infrastructure, there were programs. They passed the highway bill, executed on it. We had a good situation. I think this will now continue.
Okay, thanks.
As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. The next question comes from the line of Oliver Hirt from Reuters. Please go ahead.
Good morning. I wonder, Switzerland is voting on the [Non-English content] next month. What does this mean if this went through for LafargeHolcim? If it won't be true, would you consider moving out of Switzerland?
No. I think basically, I think the platform of the Initiative is well understood, and the Initiative itself is a bit, I think a sensitive one, certainly for companies. I don't think you should always go black and white with those things. We are looking for the result. Of course, we are always respectful whatever comes out. We will organize us accordingly. I think there is no point to make any black-white statements at this point.
You're opposing it, right?
Again, I think the reasons for the campaign is very good and it's also our policy as a company to be proper in every country we operate. Sometimes there are challenges which we address then. I think how the Initiative is phrased at the moment, it will not have a positive outcome or a positive contribution to those countries. That's why I'm not excited about the campaign. The basis of this, I can fully understand and support.
Do you fear legal measures against Holcim in Switzerland if this gets approved?
No. Again, I think our policy is we want to be a proper company everywhere we operate. If we have issues, somehow we address it. We have nothing to hide. We are fully transparent. You always have to imagine, we are a company of 72,000 employees globally. Basically, 70,000 families are with LafargeHolcim, and they want to work for a business which is proper, which is clean, and not do any tricks or something. This is why I have zero tolerance when it comes to compliance, and our operating standards have to be the same everywhere. This is how we see things.
All right. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of [Bernard Simmerin] from Beinvest Asset Management . Please go ahead.
Good morning, together. First of all, congratulations to the great result. I have totally other question concerning the Cuba issue. A couple of weeks ago, we could read in the newspapers, an old story, former landowners tried to sue Lafarge for their property. Can you say anything to this issue, or is it plead?
Yeah, thank you. The Cuba topic, it's now a court case, obviously, in Florida at the moment. We believe the claim is groundless as it is. We have not taken land from anyone, and it's a very, actually limited case, and we don't believe it has any merits.
Okay, thank you.
The next question is a follow-up question from Leonard Kehnscherper from Bloomberg. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Yeah, I was also wondering if you expect that LafargeHolcim will be fined for the alleged violation of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, related to that joint venture. Could you give a bit of comment?
We have not violated any U.S. embargo or any U.S. sanctions. This is a private claim of people who believe they have a claim. This has nothing to do with U.S. embargo or something.
There's no alleged violation of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba?
No. We never violated that.
Okay. Thank you.
There are no more questions at this time.
Good. Any more questions or comments, please?
For any further questions, please press star and one on your telephones.
Otherwise, again, thank you for joining us on a Friday morning, and very happy we have some good news in this pandemic, and happy rising to all of you, and I look forward to see you very soon on video or maybe even live. Yeah. Thank you very much, and have a good Friday.
Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you for choosing Chorus Call, and thank you for participating in the conference. You may now disconnect your lines. Goodbye.