...- We forecast that German-headquartered building materials manufacturer HeidelbergCement AG's credit metrics in 2020 will be significantly weaker than we expected, due to the global recession resulting from the novel coronavirus pandemic. - Based on our current macroeconomic assumptions, we forecast a low double-digit decline in revenue in 2020, followed by a high-single digit recovery in 2021, leading to funds from operations (FFO) to debt of about 18%-22% in 2020 and around 23%-27% in 2021. - We are therefore revising our outlook to stable from positive, and affirming our '###-/A-3' ratings on HeidelbergCement. - We now consider an upgrade in the next 12 months as unlikely. The current stable outlook reflects our view that the macroeconomic environment should progressively recover in the second part of 2020 and in 2021, and that HeidelbergCement is well positioned to withstand the current difficult environment thanks to the rating headroom it built over 2019....
