It is very encouraging that thanks to the dedication and hard work of everyone across CEMEX UK, we now see the real benefits of your continued safe operations at many of our sites. The UK construction industry has been encouraged by the Government to keep working from the start of this crisis, and everyone in CEMEX has contributed brilliantly to this. You have kept our products and services flowing to our customers wherever it was safe to do so, and in accordance with all Government Health and Safety advice.

We are now seeing the positive benefit of your dedication, with demand increasing significantly in many of our markets in the last week. The builders’ merchants like Travis Perkins and Selco are placing strong orders as they open again and the national housebuilders like Taylor Wimpey and Redrow plan to re-start at housing sites in early May. Some of our competitors who closed down very early have lost customer confidence and will take longer to recover sales.

It is down to the commitment, professionalism and focus on safety of our people that CEMEX is now in the strongest possible position to lead the recovery in building materials supplies to the UK construction industry.

Thank you for doing everything possible to help secure our future as we hopefully start to see early signs of recovery.