Cement News tagged under: Lafarge

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Lafarge one step closer to completing US refocus

10 January 2014, Published under Cement News

Lafarge announces the sale of five aggregates quarries and related assets in Maryland (USA) to Bluegrass Materials for a total enterprise value of US$320m. With these divestments, the group has now largely completed its strategy of refocusing on its core markets in the United States, the cement major said in a statement. Lafarge today operates a network of integrated positions mainly located in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River regions. It US operations consist of nine cement or grind...

CRH full-year development spend

07 January 2014, Published under Cement News

CRH announced a total of seven acquisitions and investment initiatives in the second half of 2013, taking full-year development activity to EUR0.69bn. The company invested EUR0.22bn in the six months to the end of December last year, including one transaction in Asia, three under its American Materials division and a further three in its Distribution segment. Commenting on the these developments, CRH’s new chief executive Albert Manifold said: “Development spend of almost EUR0.7bn in 2013...

EAPCC in spat with CMA over Lafarge appointment

31 December 2013, Published under Cement News

East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has gone to court, seeking to lift the suspension of its annual general meeting resolutions by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), according to a report in Kenya’s Business Daily. The company argues that the CMA lacks the mandate to suspend the resolutions since AGMs are overseen by the Registrar of Companies. CMA suspended the resolutions by shareholders two weeks ago following a protest from the government, which is the majority shareholder. ...

Lafarge sells minority stake in gypsum operations

30 December 2013, Published under Cement News

Lafarge is to sell its remaining 20 per cent minority stake in its European and South American gypsum operations to Belgian building materials group Etex for an immediate cash consideration of EUR145m. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed in the coming weeks, the French multinational announced on Thursday.

Mbeya Cement inaugurates new bag filter, Tanzania

16 December 2013, Published under Cement News

Lafarge Mbeya Cement, part of the Lafarge group, has inaugurated a new bag filter to reduce stack emissions at its plant at Songwe, Tanzania. The initiative forms part of the company's efforts to improve its overall production process which will also see an increase in capacity. The filter reduces stack emissions to 10mg/nm3, lower than the 2013 Tanzania Environmental Regulations of 50mg/nm3 and in line with Lafarge Industrial targets. Speaking at the inauguration last Friday, Catherin...

USA: Ravena plant to be renovated

19 November 2013, Published under Cement News

Lafarge has declared that it will spend several hundred million dollars to renovate its Ravena cement plant in Albany County. The revamped factory should be operational again by mid-2016, saving 112 jobs. State regulators, federal regulators and Lafarge all agreed to the timeline for the work. This is the first fixed timeline the project has had since it was unveiled five years ago when the recession hit. Lafarge has spent the years since waiting for the economy (and, thus, its business) to...

Lafarge advances in markets outside Europe and the Near East

07 November 2013, Published under Cement News

In the first nine months of the year, Lafarge's turnover declined by 4.4 per cent to EUR11,484m, while the EBITDA fell by 10.5 to EUR2309m. At the trading level the reduction was 15.2 per cent to EUR1546m, while net financial charges eased by 1.7 per cent to EUR792m and other expenses fell to less than a third of the previous year's charge, leading to a pretax profit 6.3 per cent lower at EUR656m.  A lower tax charge and an increased income from discontinued activities led to a net attrib...

Lafarge 3Q net profit steady, announces new cost reduction and innovation targets

06 November 2013, Published under Cement News

Lafarge reported a slight increase in the third-quarter profit with on the back of reduction initiatives, despite sales being impacted by negative currency movements. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bruno Lafont said: "With improving volume trends and despite the adverse effect of exchange rates, we continued to progress in the third quarter on our strategic action plan. ...We have accelerated and will complete our 2012-2015 cost reduction and innovation plan one year ahead of our in...

Egypt sees signs of stablisation

05 November 2013, Published under Cement News

Signs of stability are beginning to emerge in the Egyptian cement market with visibility improving in several areas, a recent flash note by CM-CIC Securities highlights. The research house believes visibility is improving on several points. Firstly, volumes have been catching up since August and were up by 15 per cent during the month followed by a three per cent increment in September. Moreover, a better pricing scenario has been witnessed through 2013, with an increase of 15 per cen...

Lafarge WAPCO reports 26% rise in pretax profit

30 October 2013, Published under Cement News

Lafarge WAPCO Cement Nigeria has recorded an increase in pretax profits of 26 per cent for the nine months to the end of September. The company reported pretax profits of NGN20.66bn (US$130m) and revenues of NGN74.27bn, up from NGN69.84bn compared to the same period of 2012. Third quarter sales rose six per cent to NGN24.8bn and pretax profit was up 65 per cent YoY at NGN6.9bn thanks to improved gross margin at 39.9 per cent. In 3Q12 the company undertook maintenance activities for aroun...