Strong competitive positions in many markets, including India. Extensive geographic diversification. Cost-efficient operations. Ability to generate operational cash flow consistently over the business cycle. Cyclicality, seasonality, and high capital and energy intensity of the heavy building materials' industry. Superior access to global debt markets. Limited current headroom versus our expectations for the ratings. Moderate financial policy, including large capital expenditures. Partial ownership and limited access to cash flows of key Indian subsidiaries. The stable outlook on Switzerland-based Holcim Ltd. mainly reflects Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' view that the group will continue to generate resilient cash flow and a broadly stable operating EBITDA margin in 2013 and 2014, despite somewhat unsupportive industry conditions. We also take into account that management
