Cement News tagged under: France

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French cement consumption rises 5% in October

19 December 2012, Published under Cement News

French cement demand increased by five per cent YoY to 1.904Mt in October, data from association Syndicat Français de l'Industrie Cimentière (SFIC) shows. Domestic producers advanced sales by 4.5 per cent to 1.762Mt when compared with October 2011 while importers increased their deliveries by nearly 11 per cent from 0.128Mt to 0.142Mt. In terms of exports, the French industry made modest gains of 3.7 per cent from 0.108Mt to 0.112Mt, mostly in the form of cement (0.099Mt) although some ...

Asia and US improvements boost Vicat nine month results

06 November 2012, Published under Cement News

Vicat's turnover for the first nine months of the year edged ahead by 0.2 per cent to EUR1731m, but this represents an underlying decline of one per cent. Asian and US improvements made up for French and African volume declines.  The gearing level increased to 47.6 per cent at the end of September compared with 43.4 per cent a year earlier and  40.6 per cent two years ago, with the expansion in Asia being the principal reason for the increase in debt levels. Turnover in cement was 0.7 per...

Lafarge appoints director of R&D

15 October 2012, Published under Cement News

Carlos Espina has been appointed as Director of Research and Development of the Lafarge Group, with effect from 1 Octbober 2012. Mr Espina was formerly Chief Executive Officer, ArcelorMittal Méditerranée, a position he had held since July 2009. He began his career in the United Kingdom as a Researcher at AEA Technology. In 1995 he joined the R&D Centre of Aceralia Corporación Siderúrgica as Manager of the Product Applications Engineering Department, before becoming Vice President of Intel...

HSBC lifts Lafarge share price target, France

14 August 2012, Published under Cement News

HSBC has lifted the share price target of Lafarge to EUR55 from EUR52 and reiterated its "overweight" recommendation. Analysts with HSBC revised up by three per cent their expectations for the EBITDA of the company, due to the increase in cement prices. The broker considers that in the first half of 2012, the building materials producer laid the foundations of good financial performance for the entire year. Lafarge booked a EUR13m (US$16.02m) net attributable profit for the first half of ...

Vicat first-half 2012 turnover eases

08 August 2012, Published under Cement News

France-based Vicat's first half performance improved strongly in Asia but results have mainly deteriorated elsewhere. Turnover for the six months to June 2012 eased by 1.5 per cent to €1128.8m, which represents a 2.4 per cent reduction on a comparative basis. EBITDA declined by 20.8 per cent to €200.6m as the margin narrowed from 22.1 per cent to 17.8 per cent. The trading profit fell by 36.6 per cent to €104.5m. After a net interest charge 1.4 per cent higher at €19m, the pre-tax profit ca...

European cement majors: first half trends

06 August 2012, Published under Cement News

The last week has seen three leading European cement majors release first-half 2012 results: Lafarge, HeidelbergCement and Italcementi. The latest figures appear to confirm the upturn in North America, which, together with the emerging markets, have been the main drivers of demand as parts of Europe remain a drag on performance. While a slower volume growth environment persists, improved pricing and cost reduction measures continue to be central themes.   In terms of market performance, wes...

Ciments Francaise first-half revenue declines

31 July 2012, Published under Cement News

Ciments Francais, part of the Italcementi Group, reported that consolidated revenues for the first half of 2012 amounted to EUR1.9m, down 4.8 per cent YoY reflecting a 6.5 per cent drop in activity and a positive exchange-rate effect (+1.9 per cent). The most significant increases related to Bulgaria, North America, India and Thailand and the strongest reductions related to France/Belgium, Spain and Egypt. Recurring EBITDA amounted to EUR319.7m, down 17.1 per cent primarily due to reduced...

Fives FCB acquires Technip’s cement division, France

31 July 2012, Published under Cement News

Fives FCB, a subsidiary of the Fives Group, has acquired the business portfolio of CLE Groupe Technip France, the specialist cement plant division of the Technip Group. For more than 40 years, the CLE, Groupe Technip France division has completed installation and revamping projects for many cement manufacturer customers. More recently, it has been involved in major revamping projects in France, Poland, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey and Brazil. The many facilities developed by the CLE, Gr...

Lafarge takes hit on Greek impairment charge, maintains outlook

27 July 2012, Published under Cement News

Lafarge has reported improved second-quarter sales and operating profit but net profit plummeted as it took an impairment charge of EUR200m (US$244m) on its Greek assets. Second-quarter sales rose five per cent to EUR4261m and EBITDA increased eight per cent to EUR1007m. Net income in 2Q was only EUR57m due mainly to the Greek impairment charge. For the first-half sales increased by five per cent to EUR7614m and EBITDA eight per cent to € 1523m while net profit was  EUR13m down from EU...

Citigroup lowers Italcementi price target, Italy

09 July 2012, Published under Cement News

Citigroup has lowered its price target on Italcementi to EUR3.60 from EUR4.10, after cutting by 15% the pre-tax profit estimates for the Italian cement producer in 2012 and 2013. The prices and figures in Italy grew despite the weak market conditions but the dipping sales in France lead the bank to expect lower figures in 2012 than in 2011, Citigroup commented. The higher prices in North America are expected to raise Italcementi's profit on the market both in the first half and full-201...