Cement News tagged under: Italy

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UBS cuts Buzzi Unicem’s EBIDTA estimates on weak European markets

18 July 2012, Published under Cement News

UBS has cut Buzzi’s 2012 EBITDA projections by three per cent and now expects it to remain flat for the year at EUR424m as lower European demand weighs on the Italian cement major’s performance. The new EBITDA estimates are in line with the group‘s guidance and eight per cent lower than the consensus estimate of EUR460m. The broker has also has cut its recommendation on Buzzi Unicem to “sell” from “neutral” saying that cement demand in Europe has deteriorated significantly. Although ...

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...

Cementir entering Britain

05 July 2012, Published under Cement News

The Italian cement and aggregates group Cementir is entering the British market – not in cement or aggregates, but in waste management through its Turkish subsidiary Recydia. In Turkey, Recydia collects refuse to burn in its immediate parent's cement kilns.  Recydia has invested GBP8.9m (€11m) in buying a company collecting and recycling municipal and industrial waste in Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire in the north of England.  The burning of waste in Britain's cement kilns has, ...

UBS initiates Italcementi with ‘Sell’

05 July 2012, Published under Cement News

UBS has initiated Italcementi at sell with a target of EUR3.40, reports from Dow Jones show. UBS cites a negative view of the cement maker's core Italian market, underwhelming cash flow generation, among other factors. "We expect Italian cement volumes to fall 20% in FY12," it says. "Italcementi is trading at a near 15-year low, following a peak-to-trough EBITDA decline of circa 52%. The shares are highly leveraged (financially and operationally) to a stronger economic environment." UB...

European construction outlook revised

25 June 2012, Published under Cement News

The increasing perception that Greece will default and exit the eurozone together with rising fears of contagion has led Euroconstruct, a group of research institutes and consulting firms, to significantly downgrade its European construction forecasts for this year and next.   At a meeting held last week, the group said Europe's construction forecasts for this year and next have been downgraded from -0.3% to -2.1% in 2012 and from +1.8% to +0.4% in 2013. Looking further ahead, it highlights...

Eurozone April construction output falls

21 June 2012, Published under Cement News

Construction output in the 17 nations that use the euro dropped 2.7 per cent in April compared to the month before, and five per cent from April 2011, the European Union's official statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday. Eurostat also lowered its estimate for the growth of construction output in March, to 11.4 per cent from 12.4 per cent. The decline in construction during April was widespread across the currency area, with building work down six per cent in Germany, 2.3 per cent in Spain...

UBS launches coverage on Italcementi and Buzzi Unicem

21 June 2012, Published under Cement News

UBS started covering Italy's two largest cement producers, Italcementi and Buzzi Unicem, as they struggle against a backdrop of a construction recession and declining cement demand. The analysts expect cement sales in Italy to slump 20 per cent this year. Pricing, on the other hand, seem to offset this trend but competition is solid and the pressure on Italcementi is strong, UBS said. It added that Italcementi's EBITDA are bound to drop further in 2012 after the fall in 2011. Italceme...

S&P lowers Italcementi credit rating, Italy

30 May 2012, Published under Cement News

Standard and Poor's lowered the long-term corporate credit rating on Italian cement maker Italcementi  to BB+ from BBB-, and its short term rating to B from A-3. The agency set a "stable" outlook. The downgrade was prompted by Italcementi's continued underperformance against S&P's rating guidelines, the agency said. The group's operating performance in 2012 is expected to continue to suffer due to depressed end-markets, S&P added. (SeeNews Italy).

Italcementi opens i.lab Research Centre, Italy

17 April 2012, Published under Cement News

Italcementi’s new Research and Innovation Centre designed by the US Architect Richard Meier, was inaugurated today in the presence of the Italian Minister for the Environment Corrado Clini. Minister Corrado Clini cut the ribbon in front of a large audience including Giampiero Pesenti, Italcementi Chairman, Carlo Pesenti, CEO, and the Group's top management. Also in attendance were representatives and journalists from 18 countries in which the Italcementi Group operates. Located in the Ki...

Buzzi Unicem boosted by strong Dyckerhoff advance

02 April 2012, Published under Cement News

On a turnover that advanced by 5.2% to €2787.4m, Buzzi Unicem’s underlying EBITDA improved by 6.0% to €422.3m. With the non-recurrence of the exceptional charges seen in 2010, the trading profit (EBIT) jumped from €0.3m to 185.9m. After a net interest charge 3.7% lower at €99.8m a pre-tax profit of €84.3m emerged, an improvement on the previous year’s loss but still well below the €235.2m profit achieved in 2009. Net attributable profit was €26.4m. Net debt at the end of the year was 9.8% lo...