Displaying items by tag: France
Vicat fights inflation with price rises in 2021
16 February 2022France: Vicat says it offset rising energy costs by raising its prices in 2021. It reported growth in most places as markets recovered from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. It also noted a particular improvement in Egypt as government-mandated changes came into force in July 2021. The group’s consolidated sales rose by 11.3% year-on-year to Euro3.12bn in 2021 from Euro2.81bn in 2020. Cement and concrete volumes increased by 12.4% to 28.1Mt and 12.5% to 10.5Mm3 respectively. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 11.1% to Euro619m from Euro557m.
“Conditions in our markets remained dynamic, supported by favourable pricing trends in a context of sustained demand. This offsets the sharp rise in energy costs and wage increases,” said Vicat group chairman Guy Sidos.
Cemex tests electric concrete mixer trucks
16 February 2022France/Germany: Cemex has introduced electric vehicles into the concrete mixer truck fleets of its subsidiaries in France and Germany. The El Financiero newspaper has reported that, if successful, the test may lead to continued introductions and tests of new prototype zero-emission concrete mixer trucks in its operations.
EIM Capital acquires Bonna Sabla
07 February 2022France: Private equity firm EIM Capital has acquired precast concrete products company Bonna Sabla from Consolis. The producer says that the new ownership will help it to capitalise on its commercial, economic and social situation through an ecological, energy and technological transition.
Chief executive officer Eric Lobbé said “We have the right teams and set of manufacturing facilities in France to pursue and develop our drainage precast solutions through well-known brands as Bonna Sabla, MPB and ABM. To be a pure player will allow us to capture significant organic growth opportunities, as well as being ready for future acquisitions. We will keep on pushing innovation to serve our customers.”
Holcim partners with Engie and National Institute of Applied Sciences Lyon to develop cement-based energy storage
03 February 2022Switzerland/France: Holcim is collaborating with Engie and and the French National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) Lyon to develop a cement-based energy storage technology to serve as an alternative to batteries. The solution will use cement hydration to store heat as energy and release it when needed in an infinitely repeatable cycle. The partners say that it will make energy storage local, safe, affordable and recyclable.
Holcim’s head of global innovation Edelio Bermejo said "The world needs innovative solutions to accelerate our shift towards renewable energy generation, distribution and storage – all areas in which Holcim can play a big part. With this collaboration, we are moving energy storage forward, opening up a new range of solutions based on materials that are local and recyclable."
Olivier Guise appointed as Executive Director for Strategy, Technology and New Business at Ecocem
26 January 2022UK: Ecocem has appointed Olivier Guise appointed as its Executive Director for Strategy, Technology and New Business. The newly created role will see him join the Ecocem executive team to develop and operate the company’s strategy and to accelerate progress in bringing products to the global cement and concrete market.
Guise holds over 17 years of experience working in the construction materials industry, having been General Manager of Cement and ExCo at LafargeHolcim France until 2021. Prior to this, he held various roles at LafargeHolcim across both its French and Algerian markets, including General Manager of the Aggregates Business in the South of France, Innovation and Route to Market Director and Cement Capacity Development Director.
Cemex France supplies white architectural concrete for Vitesco Technologies’ Toulouse campus
21 January 2022France: Cemex France has supplied 900m3 of its white architectural concrete to the site of Vitesco Technologies’ upcoming Toulouse campus in Occitanie Region. The producer also supplied pumping services and managed the project through its Cemex Go digital platform. It said that the campus aims to achieve High Environmental Quality (HQE) certification for its environmental and energy performance, while ensuring acoustic, hygrothermal and visual comfort for occupants.
Senegal: France-based Fives has detailed the equipment that it will supply for its construction of a new 6500t/day kiln line at SOCOCIM Industries’ Rufisque cement plant in Dakar Region. The company says that it will supply a preheater, in-line Preca calciner, kiln, TGT filter and Pillard Novaflam burner.
SOCOCIM Industries’ parent company Vicat’s chair and chief executive officer Guy Sidos said “Vicat Group renews its partnership with Fives Group through this major project of building a new line with a strong local dimension, employing local workers and contractors.” He added “This plant will eventually eliminate the use of fossil fuels, reduce our energy consumption and support Senegalese local development, making a higher quality product while doubling our production capacity.”
Lafarge France commissions new kiln line at Martres cement plant
19 January 2022France: Lafarge France has commissioned its Martres cement plant’s new kiln line. China-based Sinoma Construction carried out the work on the plant in Occitanie Region. The supplier said that the new kiln will use 85% alternative fuel (AF), which will cut 163,000t/yr (28%) of its CO2 emissions. This will reduce its clinker’s carbon footprint by 240kg/t.
There have been a couple of acquisitions of note this week in the north-western US and Holcim has picked up another building solutions company. To find out how the latter relates to former photography products producer Kodak, read on.
Starting with the north-western US, HeildelbergCement announced that it finalised the acquisition of Corliss Resources, a large family-owned aggregates and ready-mixed concrete company, for an undisclosed sum. The purchase includes major aggregate operations with sales volumes of about 2Mt/yr and reserves and resources of about 170Mt and four ready-mixed concrete (RMX) plants selling about 0.3Mm3/yr in the Greater Seattle area.
Global Cement normally sticks to cement but Holcim did something similar last week. It completed the acquisition of Cowden, another ready-mixed concrete and aggregate producer based in Bellingham in Washington state. This sale includes two RMX plants, eight aggregate facilities and a hauling fleet. Again, there was no word of the price.
Both the HeildelbergCement and Holcim purchases in the north-western US fit the selective bolt-on approach both companies have favoured in recent years. Looking specifically at the US, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that estimated production for consumption of construction sand and gravel grew by 7% year-on-year to 753Mt in the first nine months of 2021. Estimated total construction aggregate production rose by 5% to 1.9Gt. Within the country, Washington’s sales of construction aggregates increased by 16% to 33Mt, the third largest rate by state nationally. Meanwhile, cement shipments for the country grew by 4% to 79.9Mt although they actually fell by 3% in Washington. This compares to annual growth of 2.8% in cement consumption in 2021 that the Portland Cement Association (PCA) was forecasting for the Pacific region of the US in the middle of 2021.
Holcim has been snapping up aggregates or RMX assets in established markets throughout 2021. These include US-based Marshall Concrete Products in December 2021, US-based Utelite Corporation in September 2021, Germany-based Heinrich Teufel in July 2021, the aggregates business and two RMX plants from Greece-based Halyps in May 2021 and Edile Commerciale and Cemex Rhone Alpes in Italy and France in February 2021. At the same time HeidelbergCement was mainly divesting itself of aggregates and RMX assets. It sold Halyps to Holcim and later in the same month agreed to sell its US West region to Martin Marietta Materials for US$2.3bn. The deal included cement, aggregates, RMX and asphalt businesses in California, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada. This covered two of its cement plants, with the exception of the 1.5Mt/yr Permanente cement plant in California, related distribution terminals, 17 active aggregates sites and several downstream operations. This makes the acquisition of new aggregate and RMX assets in Washington by HeildelbergCement interesting as we can see the company adjusting to its new market position. Although subsidiary Lehigh Hanson does not have a cement plant in the state it does operate a terminal in Seattle as well as other aggregate and RMX operations. North across the border in Canada though it still runs the integrated Delta Cement plant and terminal near Vancouver.
Returning to Holcim’s other acquisition this week brings us to Holcim’s target to expand the net sales of its Solutions & Products division to 30% of the group total by 2025 as part of its plans to decarbonise. This week it took one more step towards this goal with an agreement to buy France-based PRB Group, a manufacturer of coatings, insulations, adhesives and flooring systems. Global Cement Weekly has covered this topic a few times but, to recap, it started in January 2021 when Holcim announced it was buying roofing and building envelope producer Firestone Building Products for US$3.4bn. Various other related acquisitions have followed including an agreement to buy US-based Malarkey Roofing Products in December 2021.
How any of this relates to Kodak is as follows. Holcim’s predecessor Lafarge previously owned a major business away from cement, concrete and aggregates, namely gypsum. The gypsum wallboard business, like roofing, emits far less carbon than clinker production. In 2010 Lafarge’s gypsum business constituted nearly 9% of group revenue and it described itself as the third largest company in the sector worldwide. This was divested in the early 2010s in response to debts accrued by Lafarge’s acquisition of Orascom Cement in 2008. A decade later this decision appears to be the opposite of Holcim’s current strategy and indeed much of the cement sector’s current attempts to lower its carbon risk.
Kodak infamously filed for bankruptcy in 2012 after failing to move from analogue photography products to the digital market. The question cement company strategists should be asking themselves is whether their sector faces the same kind of disruption from the government and investment response to climate change. Lafarge apparently didn’t think so 10 years ago. Its successor Holcim does.
Holcim to acquire PRB Group
11 January 2022France: Holcim has entered into an agreement to acquire speciality building products supplier PRB Group. PRB Group produces coatings, insulations, adhesives and flooring systems. Holcim says that the company’s product range compliments its own and expands its reach in the high-growth repair and refurbishment market. PRB Group employs 700 people its five plants, 26 warehouses and its research and development centre. Its estimated net sales in 2022 are Euro340m.
Holcim chief executive officer Jan Jenisch said “We are off to a strong start to the new year, on our way to welcoming the PRB Group into the Holcim family. This is another exciting step in the expansion of solutions and products, advancing our Strategy 2025 – Accelerating Green Growth. I am highly impressed by the outstanding achievements of the Laurent family as well as by the expertise and passion of the entire PRB team. I look forward to warmly welcoming all employees into Holcim and to invest in our next era of growth together, with a continued focus on innovation, sustainability and branding.”