Cement News tagged under: corporate
Cemex appoints new director at Rugby Cement, UK15 March 2010, Published under Cement NewsCemex, has appointed a new director at its flagship cement plant in Rugby Warwickshire with immediate effect. Brian Southam, 50, was previously in charge of engineering and maintenance at the plant, and joined the company 29 years ago at the company’s Southam cement plant, which has since closed. He moved to Rugby in 1998 to assist and oversee the building and commissioning of the new Rugby plant, which, based on its annual capacity of 1.8Mt of cement, is the biggest cement plant in the UK. |
Nigeria: Lafarge WAPCO reports 30% fall in pre-tax profit12 March 2010, Published under Cement NewsLafarge Cement WAPCO said on Thursday its 2009 pre-tax profit fell 30 per cent to NGN8.96bn (US$59.5m) from the previous year. Turnover rose 5.4 per cent to NGN45.59bn against the same period of the previous year, the company said in a filing to the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It proposed a dividend of 10 kobo per share. |
CSN says spin-off of units to boost value11 March 2010, Published under Cement NewsBrazil’s biggest diversified steelmaking group, will start a gradual spin-off of its main business divisions with an initial public offering of its iron ore unit in a bid to increase the value of the group’s assets, Chief Executive Benjamin Steinbruch said on Tuesday. CSN will start with a share offering of the Casa de Pedra mining unit, which may start in April and is expected to be concluded by the end of June, Steinbruch said. The company could also sell stakes in its cement, steelmakin... |
ING downgrades Holcim, Lafarge, St-Gobain10 March 2010, Published under Cement NewsHolcim Ltd was downgraded to hold from buy at ING, which also cut its rating on Lafarge to sell from hold. ING said Holcim should be the core holding in the sector for the long-term investor, but after strong outperformance it looks fairly valued given the lack of visibility in the near term. As for Lafarge, ING thinks that it’s the most highly geared stock in the sector and it’s very exposed to the risk of falling cement prices. "The downside risks are substantial and not captured in prem... |
Vicat reduces costs ahead of target10 March 2010, Published under Cement NewsVicat has further strengthened it already solid balance sheet with the gearing level falling from 34.7% at the end of 2008 to 31.4%, this time. The net debt of 652.6m compares with total shareholders’ funds of €2,081.6m, of which the equity makes up €1,882.2m and minorities €199.4m. Capital investment last year was 28.5% lower at €274m in spite of increased investments going into Kazakhstan and India, while spending on acquisitions went down from €83m to €20m. Turnover was down by 7.... |
Italcementi cautious on Ciments Francais merger talks09 March 2010, Published under Cement NewsItalian cement maker Italcementi cooled market talk it could buy out its French unit Ciments Francais, which was fuelled last week by moves to streamline its funding operations. On Friday, the world’s fifth biggest cement maker approved a EUR2bn bond programme and launched an offer to buy out US noteholders who blocked its 2009 takeover of Ciments Francais. Italcementi said that, going forward, it would oversee all of the group’s funding activities, which to date have been handled by Cimen... |
Anhui Conch plans to expand through M&A activity, China09 March 2010, Published under Cement NewsAnhui Conch Cement plans to expand its business through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), after the Chinese government released some policies to put a clamp on the overcapacity cement industry. Earlier, the company has gained the approval for the construction commencement of some projects with the focus on cement structural adjustment and energy saving upgrade projects in central and western Chinese areas, disclosed its general manager Guo Wensan, adding that the planned investment will reach... |
Italcementi’s net profit halved08 March 2010, Published under Cement NewsItalcementi’s turnover declined by 13.3% in 2009, with the underlying EBITDA being off by 12.7% to €971.6m and the trading profit falling by 27.1% to €443m. Net financial costs rose by 25.6% to €98.1m, as these had been abnormally low in the previous year, thanks to the receipt of the €50m penalty from Sibirskiy Cement because of the non-completion of the sale of Set Çimento in Turkey. The pretax profit declined by 27.7% to €309.5m, and the net attributable profit was exactly halved to €71... |
Court rules against Cemex’s Venezuela bid05 March 2010, Published under Cement NewsAn international court has rejected a request by Mexican cement maker Cemex to protect it from further expropriations by Venezuela after a 2008 nationalisation of its Venezuelan assets. The Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes said on its website Wednesday night that it could not take "preventive measures" in favour of Cemex, the world’s No. 3 cement maker. Cemex had asked the Washington-based ICSID to stop Venezuela from taking control of three Panam... |
Harbinger Research initiates coverage on China Shuangji Cement Ltd04 March 2010, Published under Cement NewsChina Shuangji Cement, Ltd, a leading producer of high-quality Portland cement in Shandong and Hainan Provinces in the People’s Republic of China, today announced that Harbinger Research, LLC, an independent equity research firm, will provide research coverage on the Company. "We are very optimistic about the future of our company and the cement industry in China, which is underpinned by solid fundamentals and the largest stimulus package the world has ever seen," said Mr Wenji Song, Chairm... |