24th Feb 2020 14:09
(Alliance News) - Fox Marble Holdings PLC on Monday outlined its three main areas of focus for achieving short and medium-term growth, which includes improving its factory sales of processed marble and opening new quarries.
Headquartered in London, Fox Marble is a marble production, processing and distribution company with operations in Kosovo and the Balkans region. Its shares were up 1.9% at 2.80 pence in London in afternoon trading.
Area one of Fox Marble's strategy is processed marble factory sales, with a particular emphasis on the domestic market in Kosovo and long-term third-party marble processing contracts.
"The target for 2020 is to continue to increase factory capacity and to grow that year on year over the medium term in line with increased demand in Kosovo and the greater Balkans region. This will be achieved through a combination of increasing shift patterns, continued improvements in operating efficiency and the selective addition of capital efficient factory machinery," said Fox Marble.
The second focus area for the firm is block sales to China, as well as other markets. These will, at first, be driven by Fox Marble's Macedonian Prilep quarry. Prilep contains "significant" Alexandria White and Alexandria Blue marble reserves, according to the company.
In 2020, Fox Marble aims to raise marble production by 50% from 2019 before using "minimum capital investment". After that, it plans to "deliver year on year production growth in line with anticipated increased demand for the products over the medium term".
Finally, strategy area three is to increase the company's marble reserves base as well as opening a new Kosovo quarry - in line with a strategy to open an average of at least one new quarry per year in Kosovo.
"Two new potential quarries have been identified and commercial discussions are already underway with one licence holder with the aim of opening a new premium quality marble quarry by the second half of 2020, subject to successful drilling of the resource. This will provide the opportunity to increase both block sales and processed marble from the factory from the end of 2020 onwards," Fox Marble said.
Looking ahead, Fox Marble said it was "optimistic" in the company's potential to grow in the future.
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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