Cement News tagged: Corporate
Kenya: Savannah Cement to raise capacity to 2.4Mta
Savannah Cement has unveiled plans to increase its Athi River plant to 2.4Mta, almost doubling its current 1.5Mta capacity, Business Daily Africa reports. The firm says it expects the new capacity to come online by mid-2018, with the tendering process to begin in early 2017 as soon as regulatory clearance is received. The project will see the creation of a new grinding and packaging plant. ...
Consolidation needed in South African market claims PPC chief
Darryll Castle, chief executive of PPC, has said that he believes there are too many cement companies operating in South Africa, adding that necessary consolidation would leave his firm in a stronger position, the Zimbabwe Herald reports. Mr Castle told the newspaper that PPC was “keeping and eye on the whole industry” and refused to comment on claims that merger talks had been reopened bet...
Kenya: East African Portland Cement to lay off two-thirds of workforce
In a restructuring plan unveiled this week, East African Portland Cement (EAPC) has said it will lay off more than 1000 of its more than 1500 workers, reducing the firm’s headcount to just 500, the Daily Nation reports. “We are overly overstaffed with our employee numbers at over 1500 and close to 2000. By benchmarking with the rest of the industry we need only 500,” said Bill Lay, EAPC’s c...
Nigeria: Ashaka Cement to delist from NSE
LafargeHolcim subsidiary Ashaka Cement has said that it will voluntarily delist its shares from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) after the freely-tradable proportion fell below the 20 per cent required by the bourse’s regulations, Vanguard News reports. At present, only around 15 per cent of Ashaka stock is tradable on the NSE. Ashaka made the offer to delist to head off the possibility of...
CRH revenues rise to US$22bn on stronger US construction activity
In a trading update covering the first nine months of 2016, CRH announced that its sales revenues had reached EUR20.4bn (US$21.9bn) with improved performances in its European, Asian and American operations. On a pro forma basis, accounting for new revenues generated by acquisitions from LafargeHolcim, sales were six per cent higher in the year to September 2016 than they had been in the sam...
Brazil: CSN 3Q16 revenue up 13.6% YoY
Brazilian steel and cement maker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional's (CSN) 3Q16 results improved in comparison with the year-ago quarter, primarily due to higher sales volume in the mining segment. The company's net loss contracted 80 per cent YoY to BRL106.6m (US$32.9m). CSN generated net revenue of BRL4469.2m (US$1379.4m) from all its operations, increasing 13.6 per cent YoY. Approximat...
USA: FTC approves HeidelbergCement divestiture
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has given its approval to an application from HeidelbergCement and Italcementi for the divestiture of the Essroc Martinsburg cement plant in West Virginia and eight cement terminals, local newspaper the Morning Call reports. The plant and terminals are to be acquired by Cementos Argos for US$660m. The divestiture was required by the FTC to preserve comp...
India: LafargeHolcim increases stake in Ambuja and ACC
LafargeHolcim has increased its shareholding in Ambuja Cement through the purchase of an additional 39.1m shares, increasing the Franco-Swiss firm’s stake by 1.49 per cent to 63.1 per cent. LafargeHolcim also increased its stake in ACC – since mid-2016 a subsidiary of Ambuja – with the purchase of 7.9m shares, taking its stake to 4.5 per cent. The cost of the two purchases amounts to CHF...
Zimbabwe: PPC commissions its Harare grinding unit
PPC Zimbabwe says it expects to increase exports into the region after commissioning a US$85m grinding plant in Harare which will double the firm’s cement production capacity to 1.4Mta. "We have to intensify our efforts to try capture that market but already we are at a disadvantage because the manufacturing cost in Zimbabwe is pretty high. So to compete in those markets will be pretty dif...
UAE: National Cement Co sees 46% fall in 3Q profits
National Cement reported a 46.2 per cent drop in third-quarter net profits to AED9.85m (US$2.7m) from AED18.31m 3Q15. For the first nine months of 2016, the company posted net profits of AED73.48m, down from AED88.52m reported in the equivalent period of last year.
FLSmidth MAAG Gear appoint new CEO
Helmut Holz is the new CEO of FLSmidth MAAG Gear. He follows Simon Jensen, who has accepted a new position as Managing Director, Head of FLSmidth Middle East, Group, with base in the United Arab Emirates. Helmut Holz has commenced his work on 1 November 2016. He has 20 years of experience from different companies within the gear business and brings therefore with him an extensive knowledge o...
UAE: Fujairah Cement profits up 59%
Fujairah Cement Industries Co reported an increase of 58.9 per cent in profits in 3Q16 as compared with the same period a year ago. Earnings rose to AED12.39m (US$3.37m) in 3Q16 from AED7.8m (US$2.12m) in 3Q15, the company said in a bourse statement issued on Sunday. In the first nine months of this year, Fujairah Cement, which is listed on both KSE and ADX, saw a 84.8 per cent YoY jump...
Kenya: EAPCC profits down 42%
East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) reported a 42 per cent drop in full-year net profit as a result of increased operating costs. Financial statements recently published show the company’s net profit fell from KES7.15bn (US$70.3m) in the 12 months ending June 2015 to KES4.14bn in the year ended June 2016. This drop in net profit has been largely attributed to an increase in operati...
Lafarge Surma Cement and Holcim Bangladesh in merger talks
Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd (LSC) has reportedly started talks with Lafarge Holcim Group to merge with Holcim Bangladesh Ltd (HBL). Lafarge Surma Cement, in a notice to Dhaka Stock Exchange last week, informed that the company is exploring the opportunity of combining LSC's business with HBL. A merger has the potential to create significant synergies as well as further position both HBL and LSC...
Buzzi Unicem releases 9M16 results
Buzz Unicem reports that from January to September 2016 cement and clinker sales of the group totalled 19.5Mt, up 1.2 per cent from the previous year. Consolidated net sales were in line with the previous year, increasing from EUR1998.1m in September 2015 to EUR1.9985m in the period under review, while EBITDA came in at EUR416.2m (+64.1m, equal to +18.2 per cent). Europe In Italy cemen...
Kenya: East Africa Portland Cement sees 2015 profits fall 42%
East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has announced that its profits for the financial year ending in June 2016 were KES4.2bn (US$41m), having fallen by 42.1 per cent in comparison to the previous year. According to reports in the Nation newspaper, EAPCC’s revenues rose by 5.4 per cent to KES8.9bn, but higher expenses – including financing costs that were up by 67.3 per cent – and inc...