The Swedish-based construction group NCC, having sold its ready-mixed concrete operations in Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, Norway and the St. Petersburg area of Russia as well as some of its Swedish batching plants during 2003 is now withdrawing completely from the Swedish market by selling its remaining 26 batching plants for SKr225m (€25m) to Thomas Concrete Group and to HeidelbergCement. The 26 batching plants together have an annual turnover of around SKr300m (€33m) and deliver some 0.29Mm3 of ready-mixed concrete. NCC does not consider the production of ready-mixed concrete a core activity and intends also to dispose of its one remaining interest in this field, GH Beton, the number three producer in Denmark, with nine active batching plants and a turnover last year of D.Kr.153m (€21m).
Färdig Betong, the domestic arm of the Gothenburg-based Thomas Concrete Group, with a turnover of SKr600m (€66m) is roughly twice the size of the NCC ready-mixed concrete being sold and globally Thomas Concrete Group sells around 4.5Mm3 of ready-mixed concrete per annum. Betongindustri, the Swedish ready-mixed concrete subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, has a turnover of approximately SKr480m (€53m) and a staff of some 180 people. Färdig Betong and Betongindustri are taking 13 batching plants each from NCC and will seek to structure the division of the plants between them in such a way that local monopolies problems are avoided. The deal will make Färdig Betong the clear leader in the Swedish ready-mixed concrete market.
