Cement News tagged: Corporate
ARM Cement ratings affirmed, Kenya
Global Credit Ratings has today affirmed the national scale ratings assigned to Kenyan cement producer ARM Cement Ltd of A(KE) and A1(KE) in the long term and short term respectively, with the outlook accorded as Stable. Summary rating rationale Global Credit Ratings (GCR) has accorded the above credit rating(s) to ARM Cement (ARM) based on the following key criteria: ARM is becoming an i...
USA: Former Ash Grove chairman and president dies
Ash Grove Cement Company has announced that James P Sunderland, former company chairman and president, passed away on 27 May 2015. Mr Sunderland joined the Ash Grove Lime and Portland Cement Company in 1957 as its corporate secretary in Kansas City. In his 43-year career at Ash Grove Cement, he held several leadership positions including serving as the company’s chairman and president. Duri...
Indonesia: Rembang plant on course for 2016 start-up
State-owned cement producer PT Semen Indonesia expects is Rembang cement plant, Central Java, to be completed in 2016. “By the end of 2016, the construction works are expected to finish so that [the factory] is ready for operation,” PT Semen Indonesia president director, Suparni, told The Jakarta Post in Surabaya. “The products are oriented for distribution in Central Java, East Java and West...
Sagar Cement rail line on track for July opening
India's Sagar Cement announced will commission its INR1200m (US$18.7m), 7km private railway line next month. This line will connect Sagar’s plant, near Matampally, in Nalgonda, Andhra Pradesh, with the main railway line. S Sreekanth Reddy, Sagar Cement’s executive director, said: “The company had already received its first train and full commercial operations will begin after safety checks by...
Arawak Cement’s future hangs in the balance
Some 200 employees of Arawak Cement plant await the decision of a high-level team from parent company Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) on the future of the cement plant on based in St Lucy in Barbados. TCL chairman, Wilfred Espinet, confirmed that after the parent company’s shareholders’ annual general meeting in July, the board of directors and TCL management will focus on Arawak. Espinet expl...
Prosperity considers Anhui Chaodong transaction
Prosperity Minerals Investment Ltd (PMIL), a wholly-owned by Prosperity International, is contemplating a transaction involving Anhui Chaodong Cement Co Ltd (ACC), a company whose shares are listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and in which PMIL holds about 18.06 per cent interests. ACC has applied to the SSE for the suspension of dealings in the shares of ACC for five trading days com...
BMM seeks to raise US$33m from IFC
BMM Cements Ltd (BCL) is planning to raise US$33m (around INR2bn) from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to fund its turnaround, Business Standard of India reports. Currently part of Bharat Mines & Minerals group (BMM group), BCL shareholders in November 2014 had agreed to transfer ownership to Sagar Cements Ltd (SCL). After the transfer, BCL will become a wholly owned subsidiary of...
Paraguay: INC expects to use up 20% biofuel
Paraguay’s Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) announced that subject to satisfactory analysis results, the cement producer will be including biofuel in its fuel mix. A series of tests is currently being carried out by the Engineering Faculty of the National University of Asuncíon (UNA). Jorge Méndez Cuevas, CEO of INC, said the company could substitute fuel oil with up to 20 per cent biofuel.
Arabian Cement Co 1Q revenue rises 11% YoY
Arabian Cement Company (ACC) said first-quarter revenue increased by 11 per cent to EGP585m (US$76.6m) compared to EGP529m a year earlier. The advance was mainly attributed to a 13 per cent increase in volumes as prices slip over the period. However, net profit dropped 52 per cent YoY to EGP56m, while the net profit margin was down 12 points to 10 per cent, the company in a statement. ACC...
TCC International to raise HK$3.63bn in rights issue
TCC International Holdings Ltd is seeking to raise HKD3.63bn (US$468m) in a rights issue to fund acquisitions and for general working capital. The company said Monday it plans to sell up to 1.65 billion rights shares at HK$2.2 each in the proportion of one rights share for every two existing shares held. The offer price represents a 25.17 per cent discount to its latest trading price of HK$2...
Holcim launches exchange offer for Lafarge shares
Holcim said Monday it has launched the public exchange offer for all the shares of Lafarge, marking the final stage of the merger of the two cement majors. Shareholders in Lafarge are being asked to offer their shares at an exchange ratio of nine Holcim shares for 10 Lafarge shares. Their acceptance of the exchange is the final stage to create a new company. Holcim shareholders have already...
Vietnam rises 9% in first five months
Vietnam is estimated to have produced 26.6Mt of cement during January-May 2015, up nine per cent from a year ago, the government-run General Statistics Office said. In May alone, output amounted to 6.3Mt. During the five month period Vietnam produced 20.3Mt of cement, compared to an earlier estimate of 19.9Mt, according to the office’s revised figure. Vietnam currently has 74 cement product...
Roongrote tipped to take SCG helm, Thailand
Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thailand's largest industrial conglomerate, has confirmed Roongrote Rangsiyopash is in line to be its next president, the Bangkok Post reports. The SCG board agreed to maintain Mr Roongrote's position as executive vice-president and end his top position at SCG Paper as well as announce the promotion of two other SCG executives to replace Mr Roongrote. "It is a proces...
Argos reports solid start to the year
Argos reported a solid first-quarter results, with a double-digit rise in cement volumes and price recovery in both Colombia and the US. Consolidated revenues in the first quarter grew 27 per cent YoY, reaching COP1.7trn (US$669m). EBITDA was up by 18 per cent to COP307bn supported by structural improvements in al regional divisions as the group reported continuous achievements in operatio...
Cemex raised to Buy at Longbow
Cemex is upgraded to Buy from Neutral by Longbow, based on continually improving fundamentals in the cement industry with price increases of 8-10 per cent supported by volume growth of 6-8 per cent. In a report published Wednesday, Longbrow Research analyst said utilisation rates are climbing and contacts are concerned about available capacity in late 2015 and early 2016; these factors, in...
Adelaide Brighton predicts 2015 sales gain
Australian construction materials group Adelaide Brighton says cement and clinker product sales volumes should be "similar to or greater than" levels in the prior year. Lime sales, which declined 7.7 per cent in 2014 after a downturn in the gold sector, were also anticipated to be similar or slightly higher than last year. The group told shareholders at today's annual general meeting th...