HeidelbergCement fourth-quarter earnings gain beats market view

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A better than expected increase in fourth-quarter sales and earnings prompted HeidelbergCement to release some results ahead of schedule on Monday.

Citing preliminary figures, the German cement maker said quarterly earnings from current operations gained 2% to 661 million euros ($741.25 million), well above average market expectations of 556 million euros.

It is due to publish detailed preliminary figures on Feb. 24.

($1 = 0.8917 euros)

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by David Goodman)