Moody's views West China Cement negatively

Moody's Investors Service said it changed the outlook for West China Cement Ltd. to negative from stable but affirmed its Ba2 corporate family rating and senior unsecured rating.

"The outlook change to negative reflects our concern over WCC's reducing liquidity buffer due to a potential structural decline in profitability associated with the prolonged demand weakness in its end markets and capital expenditure for its expansion projects in Africa," said Roy Zhang, a Moody's vice president and senior analyst, in a press release.

"These risks are counterbalanced by the company's still-adequate internal financial resources, including cash and cash flow from operations. We expect the company to prudently manage its financials to maintain adequate liquidity and its debt to EBITDA at below 3x over the next 12-18 months. This leverage level is in line with its rating category, and hence, supports the rating affirmation at Ba2," added Zhang.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.