LafargeHolcim - September 2019

LafargeHolcim Maroc saw its sales advance by 0.2 per cent YoY to MAD3.89bn (US$401.4m) in the first half of this year. Operating profit over the same period improved by 10.6 per cent YoY to MAD1.65bn, while net consolidated profit saw an 8.6 per cent uptick to MAD965m. Low rainfall in the opening months of the year resulted in a 2.1 per cent increase in cement volumes in the 1H19. Meanwhile, construction on the company’s new MAD3bn Souss plant is progressing well, with completion due in the 3Q20.

LafargeHolcim has also announced a US$160.87m investment plan to slash its annual CO₂ emissions in Europe by 15 per cent, or 3Mt, like-for-like by 2022. Last year the company repurposed 11Mt of waste materials, including 2Mt of non-recyclable plastics but aims to repurpose an extra 1.5Mt of waste, avoiding an additional 1Mt of CO₂ per year.

Its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint is just as strong outside Europe. Its Brookfield cement plant in Nova Scotia, Canada, for example, has begun burning 20tpd of scrap tyres. The company estimates that it will burn almost 400,000 such tyres each year, equal to roughly half the tyres that are discarded in the province per year and cutting the company’s carbon emissions by 40 per cent by 2030, compared to the 1990 level.