Cement News tagged: Corporate
Lucky Cement full-year profit advances, Pakistan
Lucky Cement Ltd reported net profit of PKR12.43bn (US$119m) for the year ended 30 June 2015, representing a 9.6 per cent YoY increase. Revenue advanced by 3.9 per cent to PKR44.76bn compared to PKR43.08bn a year earlier. The increase was mainly attributed to higher sales local volumes which rose by seven per cent YoY to 4.42Mt. However, exports declined by 4.5 per cent to 2.37Mt compared w...
Cementos Argos launches brand in Puerto Rico
Colombia-based cement producer Cementos Argos has completed its entry into the Puerto Rican cement market by launching its brand locally. The company is importing cement through a terminal, of which it assumed leadership since 1 May 2015. “Through this new receipt, storage and distribution terminal, we are making all of our experience, knowledge and innovation available to the local market. A...
LafargeHolcim offer to pay down €1.75bn debt
LafargeHolcim announced that they have offered to pay down EUR1.75bn worth bonds (average cost of 5.8 per cent) with an expiration date of 15 September. JP Morgan believe this should lower the annual interest cost by CHF423m and help the group in attaining a lower cost of debt. It further believes the company has the ability to further lower gross debt following the disposal of assets to CRH...
Buzzi Unicem to build new Texas rail terminal, USA
Buzzi Unicem USA is to construct a US$7m rail terminal in northwest Temple, Texas, officials announced Friday. The terminal will use at least 1000 rail cars each year for cement distribution. As part of the project, Buzzi Unicem USA will add a rail spur, a secondary rail line that will branch off from the main rail line in Temple. “Temple is the ideal location for our company because it i...
CRH appoints Group Finance Director
CRH announced yesterday the appointment of Senan Murphy as Group Finance Director with effect from 4 January 2016. Senan will succeed Maeve Carton who will become Group Transformation Director as previously announced. Both will be members of the Group Board. Senan (46), is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Dublin. He has over 25 years’ expe...
Umm Al Qura Cement signs deal with CNBM International Engineering
Umm Al Qura Cement has signed an agreement with CNBM International Engineering to operate a cement production line, the company said in a bourse statement on Monday. The SAR32m (US$8.5m) agreement covers the experimental operational period and first year of operation. The deal will be financed from the company’s cash sources.
TCL signs loan agreements with international banks
Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) has made an announcement on its settlement of loan deals worth US$200m with international banking giants. TCL has signed the loan agreements, which will remain operational for a period of five years, with Credit Suisse and Citibank. During the recently held deal signing event at Citibank (Trinidad and Tobago), the chairman of TCL Wilfred Espinet has stated that t...
Peru: Volcan mulls sale of Polpaico shares
Peruvian mining firm Volcan could sell its share in Chilean cement company Polpaico if metal prices continue falling, according to the firm's CFO Jorge Murillo. Volcan could receive around USD 27mn (EUR 24.22m) for its share, of around 20 per cent, in the business. Holcim owns 54.3 per cent of Polpaico.
Holcim Liban posts steep fall in 1H profit
Cement producer Holcim Liban posted an unaudited net profit of US$2m in the first half of 2015, down 78.3 per cent from net earnings of US$9.4m in the same period of 2014. The firm’s sales totaled US$66.7m in the first half, a decline of 28.5 per cent from US$93.2m in the same period of 2014. Gross profit margin reached 28 per cent in the first half of 2015 relative to 30.7 per cent in the s...
RAK Cement buys back 68,560 shares, UAE
Ras Al Khaimah Cement Co decided to repurchase 68,560 of its shares on Thursday at AED0.83/share. Accordingly, the total number of treasury shares rose to 10.29m with 45.6m shares remaining to be bought as part of the company’s buyback programme, according to a filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange Sunday. The cement firm recently reported a fall in its net profits for 1H15 to AED2.45...
PPC Zimbabwe's capacity to rise to 1.5Mta in 2016
Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) plans to expand its cement capacity to 1.5Mta from the current 1.1Mta, following the completion of the company's new Msasa cement plant next year. The US$86m Msasa plant is expected to be commissioned in September 2016. The group expects to invest a total US$$200m on the 0.7Mta Msasa plant when the company finalises the entire project. The firm is still looking...
Nigeria: Dangote Cement reduces prices by NGN6000/t
Dangote Cement announced that it will lower the price of its 3X cement by NGN300/50kg bag or NGN6000/t. Onne van der Weijde, Dangote’s director general, has indicated that the company’s cost reduction strategy has started to bear fruit, enabling Dangote to achieve attractive margins and reduce the prices. Mr Van der Weijde added: "We hope this new pricing strategy will support the naira, by...
Canada: McInnis seeks tax agreement for port facility
McInnis Cement wants a tax stabilisation agreement for a US$40m distribution centre to be built at the Port of Providence. The City Council will consider a "bifurcated" tax stabilisation agreement for McInnis USA Inc, an offshoot of McInnis Cement headquartered in the Canadian Maritime province of New Brunswick, according to City Council President Luis Aponte. The cement company wants to div...
China: BBMG Corp’s CFO resigns
Wang Hongjun, BBMG Corp’s chief financial officer, has resigned his post due to 'work re-designation' without further elaboration. The Beijing-headquartered cement producer and property developer did not disclose the replacement of Mr Wang, adding Mr Wang had also ceased to be an authorised representative of the company.
HeidelbergCement strengthens finances for Italcementi deal
HeidelbergCement has strengthened its financing to prepare itself for the acquisition of Italcementi. On 31 August, the cement producer completed the disposal of its lime business in Germany to the Belgian Lhoist Group. Both companies agreed not to disclose any details about the transaction. In addition, HeidelbergCement successfully syndicated the bridge financing for the acquisition of Ital...
Pakistan: Fauji Cement earnings rise 57% in FY15
Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL) boosted its net earnings by more than a half to PKR4bn (US$39m) in FY15, the company’s financial results revealed on Tuesday. Higher margins coupled with a decline in finance cost helped the company earn an after-tax profit of PKR4.1bn or PKR2.9/share in FY15, up 56.7 per cent compared to PKR2.6bn or PKR1.8/share of the last fiscal year. The Rawalpindi-bas...