FLSmidth has contracted to supply a cement plant to Kokshe Cement, which is partly owned by East Energy Company (EEC) of Kazakhstan. The value of the contract exceeds DKK 670m (approximately EUR 90m). The some two million tonnes per year plant will be built 300 kilometres northwest of Astana, the Kazakhstani capital, and is expected to be operational in the summer of 2009.

FLSmidth will supply all the essential machinery for the plant, and several FLSmidth companies and divisions are participating in the project as equipment suppliers. The scope of supply includes an EV crusher, raw material stores, an ATOX raw mill, a complete ILC two-support kiln with preheater and SF Cross-Bar cooler plus two OK cement mills. FLSmidth is also to supply its hitherto largest clinker store, which will have a capacity of 100,000 tonnes. The contract includes silos, filters and precipitators plus a complete quality and process control system, Pfister dosing equipment and two complete Ventomatic packing lines. Training of customer personnel is also included in the contract.
    
This is the first time FLSmidth has contracted to supply a complete facility in Kazakhstan, which will be the most modern and environmentally friendly cement plant to be built in a former Soviet Union country. Local civil works will be handled by the customer himself.  
 
"The order confirms our expectations of growing cement industry activity in the former Soviet Union countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). FLSmidth is actively pursuing the vast opportunities in this region, for example by having opened a representative office in Moscow last year," comments Mr Jørgen Huno Rasmussen, Group CEO.
 
The order will contribute beneficially to FLSmidth’s earnings until the plant is commissioned in 2009.
 Siam Cement ’06 Net Dn 8.7%,Targets ’07 Sales +5% 
 
Siam Cement PCL (SCC.TH) Wednesday said its net profit last year fell 8.7% on year, after it recorded poor fourth-quarter earnings due to a one-off loss from the company’s television tube business.
 
The conglomerate’s 2006 bottomline was also weighed down by high oil prices, Siam Cement President Kan Trakulhoon told a press conference. 
 
Kan said he expects sales growth this year to slow to 5%, from 18% last year, as buoyant petrochemical prices aren’t likely to be sustained, due to cyclical factors and a retreat by oil prices. 
 
The expected slower growth coincides with increassed investment in pending expansion projects, prompting the company to plan a THB15-billion bond issue for April, Kan said. 
 
"In 2007, we plan to invest a little over THB30 billion ($853 million), which is probably our highest expenditure in ten years," Kan said, adding that Siam Cement invested around THB22 billion in 2006.
 
He said the company plans to invest THB2.5 billion to roughly double its methyl methacrylate capacity and to produce higher-end products at its joint venture with Mitsubishi Rayon Co. The increased output is scheduled to come onstream by the second quarter of 2010. 
 
Siam Cement will also invest THB400 million to set up an exhibition and design center in Bangkok. The venue is expected to open in the first quarter of 2008, he said.  
 
Siam Cement posted a net profit for 2006 of THB29.45 billion, or THB24.54 a share, compared with THB32.24 billion, or THB26.86 a share, in 2005. 
 
The earnings were slightly below analysts’ expectations. Five brokerages polled by Dow Jones Newswires gave an average net profit forecast of THB31.11 billion.
 
The company said net profit for the fourth quarter fell 8% on year to THB4.68 billion. On quarter, earnings were down 38%. 
 
Kan had forecast a fourth-quarter net profit above THB5 billion, but said earnings suffered from weakness in the cement business - a result of heavy rains during the period and slower government spending on infrastructure projects - and a loss of THB2.7 billion arising from the termination of its television tube-related business. 
 
Despite the dismal fourth quarter, Siam Cement’s board has agreed to pay a THB7.50-a-share dividend on April 26 for the company’s performance in the second half of 2006.