Displaying items by tag: Ireland
Ireland: CRH has taken the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to the Irish High Court over the seizure of the emails of one of its executives during a competition investigation in 2014. The CCPC was not entitled to ‘essentially run riot’ whilst searching the premises of Irish Cement, a subsidiary of CRH, at Platin, County Meath said CRH’s legal representatives, according to the Irish Times.
Irish Cement has accused the CCPC of seizing and retaining the emails of Seamus Lynch relating to his role with CRH. The CCPC was investigating Irish Cement at this time. Lynch left Irish Cement in June 2011 to join CRH and, when the search was carried was the managing director of CRH Europe (Ireland and Spain). In its challenge, CRH is claiming that the CCPC was not entitled to seize and retain any electronic files relating to a crh.com email account assigned to Lynch because this was not related to the business and activity of Irish Cement.
The CCPC denies all claims. It previously agreed not to use the material pending the outcome of the case.
CRH operating profit grows by 39% to Euro1.28bn in 2015
03 March 2016Ireland: CRH’s operating profit has grown by 39% year-on-year to Euro1.28bn in 2015 from Euro917m in 2014. Its sales revenue grew by 25% to Euro23.3bn from Euro18.9bn. Favourable weather, encouraging markets and currency benefits were all attributed to the positive result.
“As a result of good performance from our heritage businesses and contributions from acquisitions, 2015 was a year of significant profit growth for CRH. Strong cash generation resulted in our year-end debt metrics being ahead of target, and we are well on track to restoring these metrics to normalised levels during 2016. Recently there has been some uncertainty about the pace of global growth. Our focus remains on consolidating and building upon the gains made in 2015. Against this backdrop, we believe 2016 will be a year of continued growth for the Group,” said Albert Manifold, chief executive of CRH.
The group’s Europe Heavyside division, which includes cement production, reported a fall of 8% year-on-year to Euro3.61bn in 2015 from Euro3.93bn in 2014. Operating profit fell by 11% to Euro135m from Euro151m. Challenging business conditions were noted in Switzerland, France, Germany and Finland.
For CRH’s acquisitions from Lafarge and Holcim, the group reported that trading results were above expectations. Good performances were noted in the UK, Europe and the Philippines. However, market challenges were encountered in France, Germany and Brazil. CRH completed its purchase of Lafarge and Holcim’s European and American assets on 31 July 2015. It then completed its purchased of assets in the Philippines on 15 September 2015.
In 2016 CRH expects continued growth in the US, growth in Asia, buoyed by the Philippines and growth in parts of Europe including the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands. More difficult market conditions are anticipated in Switzerland, Belgium, Germany and France.
Ireland: Quinn Cement and the Warrenpoint Harbour Authority (WHA) have signed contracts to build five cement silos at Warrenpoint Harbour with a total storage capacity of 7500t dedicated to the export of bulk cement from Quinn Cement to the UK market. The 10-year deal will see WHA invest Euro3.2m into the project. Work on the project is due to commence immediately, with completion expected in September 2016.
"This is a very significant development for the business, which will allow us to provide an even stronger service offering to our UK customers as well as creating additional local job-opportunities servicing the growing UK construction sector,” said Liam McCaffrey, CEO of Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited, the holding Company for Quinn Cement.
Quinn Cement is currently in the process of extending its storage and distribution centre at Crown Wharf in Rochester, UK where it is constructing two additional storage silos to bring its total capacity at Rochester to 7400t. Construction of that extension is due to be completed at the end of March 2016. Additionally, Quinn Cement is in discussions with regard to setting up a second import facility on the UK mainland.
CRH enters race to buy Lafarge India
12 January 2016India/Ireland: CRH has decided to bid on the 11Mt/yr of cement assets up for sale by Lafarge India, according to local media. This follows CRH's acquisition of US$7bn of assets from Lafarge and Holcim in 2015 that were available as a result of their merger.
CRH is already present in India via its 50% stake in My Home Industries (MHI), which has 4.8Mt/yr of cement production capacity. In 2013, MHI acquired Sree Jayajothi Cements, which has 3.2Mt/yr of production capacity in the south of India.
Used tyres to reduce costs at Irish Cement 's Limerick plant
04 December 2015Ireland: Irish Cement will burn used tyres in a bid to cut costs and secure jobs at its Limerick plant. The company plans to switch to dry waste material such as rubber from used tyres and plastic to heat the kiln at the plant. The switch will cut costs, make the plant cleaner and more competitive, according to the company.
A spokesman for Irish Cement said that the company would shortly be lodging a planning application with Limerick City and County Council for the replacement of fossil fuels with alternative fuels and raw materials to improve the sustainability of their operations. The company will also be seeking a revision of its licence from the Environmental Protection Agency.
"Limerick is Ireland's oldest cement plant, having commenced operations 77 years ago. Its continuous operation has been sustained by continuous investment in new technologies and processes. After the recent period of reduced demand, production is once again on the increase at home and abroad for cement. This fuel replacement programme will be key to sustaining this growth," said Plant Manager Pat Robinson. "Based on experience in other cement plants in Ireland and throughout Europe, the opportunity to reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels will prove critical to our ability to operate competitively and sustain jobs at Irish Cement Limerick into the future."
CRH sues for return of files seized in competition inquiry
16 November 2015Ireland: CRH has gone to the High Court to seek the return of documents seized by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) in a raid in May 2015.
The CCPC, supported by the Gardai (Ireland's police force), raided Irish Cement's offices as part of a probe into alleged abuse of its dominant position in the Euro50m bagged cement industry. CRH has denied the charges.
CRH has lodged court proceedings seeking a declaration that certain sections of the files seized by the CCPC were not related to the Irish Cement investigation. A spokesman for CRH said that it was seeking to have documents that were of no use to the CCPC returned to the company. "Irish Cement fully facilitated the inspection and is continuing to co-operate fully with the CCPC. In undertaking this inspection, the CCPC removed documents that are unrelated to Irish Cement and clearly outside the scope of its inspection. CRH and Irish Cement have issued proceedings to retrieve these documents from the CCPC," said a company spokesperson.
CRH to leave Belgard Castle headquarters
02 November 2015Ireland: CRH is leaving its Belgard Castle headquarters in Tallaght, Dublin, after 40 years. The company is moving to a former GlaxosmithKline building in Rathfarnham, Dublin, bringing together 250 staff now at Belgard Castle and Cabinteely, Dublin. It will continue to own Belgard Castle, an 18th-century building and will use it for group functions and facilities. The group office at Stone-mason's Way is undergoing refurbishment and will provide CRH with 'a world-class facility.' CRH expects to complete the new offices by the end of 2015.
Mark Towe moves to CRH Americas
30 September 2015Ireland: CRH has announced that Mark Towe, currently President and Chief Executive of Oldcastle, will assume the new role of Chairman, CRH Americas. He will work with the Group Chief Executive to support performance and excellence programmes across the group. The appointment is effective from 1 January 2016. Towe will continue as an Executive Director on the Board of CRH.
CRH concludes final part of LafargeHolcim acquisition in Philippines
15 September 2015Ireland/Philippines: CRH has completed the Philippines element of its Euro6.5bn acquisition of certain Lafarge-Holcim assets and as such has now completed the entire deal.
On 2 February 2015, CRH announced that it had reached agreement to acquire certain assets from Lafarge and Holcim for a total enterprise value of Euro6.5bn. On 3 August 2015, CRH confirmed that the majority of the transaction was complete, with the exception of the operations in the Philippines. In a press release issued on 15 September 2015, CRH announced that the Philippines element of the transaction is now complete.
New CRH finance director announced
09 September 2015Ireland: Senan Murphy, currently chief operating officer at the Bank of Ireland, has been appointed as group finance director at CRH, according to The Irish Examiner.
Murphy will take up his new role, as well as joining the CRH board, in January 2015. He will succeed Maeve Carton in the finance director role, who has been in that position since 2010. Carton will move to a newly-created wider role with the title of group transformation director. There, she will be charged with better integrating CRH's businesses, identifying operational and financial opportunities and cash generation opportunities.