Cement News tagged under: corporate
TCC International in new China investment05 August 2011, Published under Cement NewsTCC International said it agreed to acquire about 97.94% equity interest in Scitus Cement (China) Holdings Limited at US$130m (equivalent to about HK$1.01bn) in cash and by issuance of 45 million warrants. The Scitus Cement Group operates two new dry-process clinker production lines with totalannual production capacity of about 1.6Mt and three cement grinding lines with total capacity of around 2.3Mta. In addition, the Group also has two clinker production lines and four cement grinding lin... |
Moody’s cuts Italcementi’s rating to “negative”05 August 2011, Published under Cement NewsMoody’s lowered Thursday the outlook on all credit ratings of Italy’s cement maker Italcementi SpA and its units to "negative" from "stable". The rating agency cut to "negative" the outlook on Italcementi Finance and its French subsidiary Ciments Francais. Moody’s explained the move with Italcementi’s lower first-half and second-quarter results. Italcementi reported a 15% drop in first-half earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and a 20% fall in the second-... |
BBMG’s Recent underperformance unjustified - Goldman04 August 2011, Published under Cement NewsBBMG’s recent underperformance against other Chinese cement stocks is unjustified, Goldman Sachs says, noting investor concerns BBMG’s cement business may be affected by Northern China’s weak pricing and that the property segment might drag overall profitability. But the house says while cement producers cut prices in Hebei province recently, Beijing is one of the best-performing markets year-to-date, with prices there up 6% vs an on-average national fall of 8%; "With 40% market share in... |
Lafarge WAPCO profit falls, Nigeria04 August 2011, Published under Cement NewsLafarge’s Nigerian unit said first-half profit dropped because the West African nation’s second-biggest cement maker’s expenses increased as it prepares to open a new plant. Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc (WAPCO)’s net income fell to NGN3.2bn from NGN4.01bn a year earlier, the Ewekoro, western Nigeria-based company, said in a statement on the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s website. Revenue for the period climbed to NGN29.5bn from NGN23bn, it said. Meanwhile, the company has produced the fir... |
Lafarge stock sinks on Moody’s possible downgrade03 August 2011, Published under Cement NewsShares in French cement group Lafarge tumbled by 3.81% to EUR34.325 at close on Tuesday after rating agency Moody’s placed its Baa3 credit rating under review for downgrade. The credit rating agency has been disappointed by weaker-than-expected operating performance in the first six months of the year. Lafarge’s debt swelled following the acquisition of Egyptian peer Orascom Cement in 2008. At the end of the first half of 2011, it was estimated at EUR 14.3bn In March, Standard&Poor’s also... |
Vulcan volumes weaker than expected - Jefferies03 August 2011, Published under Cement NewsVulcan reported second-quarter EPS of US$0.07 from continuing operations after adding back refinancing costs. This was above both Jefferies’ forecast of US$0.03 and Bloomberg’s estimate of consensus of a loss of US$0.05. Relative to Jefferies’ forecast the beat was entirely due to tax. It had assumed a tax credit at the rate of 53% on the quarter’s pre-tax loss, whereas the actual rate was 85%. There is no explanation for the high rate of tax credit in the results press release. The 2Q11 pre... |
Vicat first-half 2011 net profit seen rising03 August 2011, Published under Cement NewsCM-CIC Securities are expecting Vicat to report net profits of EUR100m (vs. EUR94.6m in 1H10) on 4 August 2011. EBITDA should reach EUR267m, ie an increase of 9.1% for an improvement in revenues of 13.8% to EUR1121m. The EBITDA margin is likely to see a contraction of 100bp in the comparison base due to the difficulties encountered in putting through price increases in France, North America and Egypt whereas cash charges have suffered due to the impact of an increase in the cost of certai... |
Titan hit by weak domestic construction activity, Greece03 August 2011, Published under Cement NewsTitan Cement of Greece posted a 36 per cent fall in profit in the second quarter due to weak building activity in its main markets. Net income dropped to EUR27.7m while sales fell 23 per cent to EUR304.1m. "The deterioration is mainly due to the collapse of building activity in Greece and its grounding at very low levels in the United States," the company said in a bourse filing. "For the full year, cement demand is estimated to be about 65 per cent below its 2006/2007 (peak) levels," t... |
Prosperity set to dilute stake in two companies03 August 2011, Published under Cement NewsDiversified China focused investment company Prosperity Minerals Holdings updated investors on changes in its shareholdings in two cement companies in China. Late last week, Prosperity’s 33.06 per cent owned Shanghai quoted cement manufacturer ACC announced it was issuing 40 million shares to pay off its debts and fund its construction projects. Prosperity will not participate in the fundraising, which means that its shareholding will decline to 28.37 per cent, enough to keep it the la... |
Angel Broking maintains neutral rating on UltraTech03 August 2011, Published under Cement NewsAngel Broking has maintained neutral rating on UltraTech Cement of India, in its July 28, 2011 research report. "UltraTech Cement (ULTC) posted robust 22.5% yoy growth in its bottom line to Rs 683cr (for 1QFY2012), aided by an ~11% improvement in blended realisation to Rs 4,503/tonne. The company’s domestic dispatches of grey cement (incl. clinker) stood at 9.46Mt, down 1.6% YoY. For 4QFY2011, ULTC’s net sales rose by robust 9.4% YoY to INR4,365cr on the back of an impressive ~11% improve... |