Displaying items by tag: Lafarge
Gérard Lamarche appointed director at Lafarge
16 May 2012France: Gérard Lamarche has been appointed as a director at Lafarge at its Ordinary General Meeting in Paris on 15 May 2012.
Lamarche graduated from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve with a Bachelor's degree in Economic Sciences and a specialisation in Business Administration and Management. He also completed the Advanced Management Program for Suez Group Executives at the INSEAD Business School.
He began his professional career in 1983 with Deloitte Haskins & Sells in Belgium, and became a mergers and acquisitions consultant in the Netherlands in 1987. In 1988, he joined the Venture Capital Department of Société Générale de Belgique as an investment manager. He became the special projects advisor to the president and secretary of the Suez board of directors in 1995 where he later became the group's senior vice president in charge of planning, control and accounts management. He was appointed senior executive vice president – finance of the Suez Group in March 2004, becoming executive vice president - finance of GDF SUEZ, and member of the management and executive committees of the GDF SUEZ Group in July 2008.
Lamarche is a director of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (Belgium) and has been a managing director since January 2012. Lamarche is also a Director of Total and Legrand.
Lafarge reports improved picture in Q1
04 May 2012France: Lafarge has announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2012, which show a 'solid' rise in sales and operating results. Sales increased for the quarter, up by 5% to Euro3.35bn for the first quarter, driven by improved pricing across all product lines and higher cement volumes in emerging markets.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and current operating income rose in the quarter, driven by higher activity in Middle East and Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America. It rose by 8% to Euro516m year-on-year. Lafarge also reported that it achieved Euro70m of cost savings and is on track to reach at least Euro400m for the whole of 2012.
"While the first quarter results traditionally represent a 'small' quarter and we remain cautious for the year, the group was encouraged by the higher revenues and EBITDA growth," said Bruno Lafont, Chairman and CEO of Lafarge. "We successfully launched our new cost reduction programme and it is positive that price actions are taking hold to address cost inflation.
"The group is focused on debt reduction, strict cost discipline, the maximisation of its cash flows and the achievement of at least Euro1bn of strategic divestments this year," continued Lafont. "The management reorganisation accelerates the group's actions towards efficiency and organic growth."
In North America Lafarge recorded an EBITDA loss of Euro46m, an 38% improvement on the Euro75m loss in the first quarter of 2011. In western Europe, its EBITDA was Euro94m, down by nearly a third on the same quarter of 2011 when the EBITDA was Euro151m. Central and eastern Europe recorded a loss in terms of EBITDA of Euro14m (compared to a Euro9m loss in 2011), Latin America recorded an EBITDA of Euro59m (Euro53m in 2011) and Asia had an EBITDA of Euro108m for the quarter (Euro85m in 2011). Lafarge's most profitable region was the Middle East and Africa, which saw a first quarter EBITDA of Euro315m.
Lafarge said that it continues to see cement demand moving higher and maintained its market growth estimate of 1-4% in 2012 compared to 2011. Emerging markets continue to be the main driver of demand for Lafarge, which said that it benefits from its well balanced geographic spread of high quality assets. The group also said that it expected higher pricing for 2012 and that cost inflation will increase at a lower rate than in 2011.
Who would buy Hope?
02 May 2012UK: If Tarmac and Lafarge go through with their proposed JV tie-up in the UK, Lafarge will be obliged to sell its long-established Hope plant in Derbyshire, in the heart of the Peak District National Park, as well as its top-quality limestone quarry and rail depot connections. The Competition Commission has indicated that it would like an 'outsider' to buy the package, which also includes significant other assets in aggregates and readymix. The question is, who might be interested to buy it?
The UK is now a mature market, which has contracted significantly over the last decade, so that heady growth is not a possibility. The competition authorities will ensure that there is real competition in the UK building materials markets, so that only 'normal' margins of 5-10% can be expected - rather than inflated cartel-like or oligopolistic margins of 20% and beyond. Given that the return on capital invested is going to be quite low, why would anyone want to commit their cash (or their credit) to buying into the UK construction materials market? Why not put your money into bio-tech, or telecomms or even into a micro-development bank in the developing world?
I guess that it is largely down to a calculation of risk versus reward (as usual). The rewards of investing in a cement plant and integrated building materials business in the UK may be (relatively) low, but then the risks are also low: the UK is a fairly safe bet for long-term moderate growth, with strong population growth and robust GDP per capita.
Who would buy? A company that wants to balance its portfolio (perhaps a company with most of its eggs currently in the fast-growth/developing world basket), is cash rich (or has access to cheap credit), which is already in cement and aggregates and which might wish to carry home some of the technical knowledge from the deal might be interested. Perhaps some of the Chinese state-owned enterprises or ambitious mid-tier companies from the Middle East would be interested. As ever though, whether a deal is done depends on the price asked - and in the end, the price asked might be too high for anyone.
New CEO for Lafarge in South Africa
02 May 2012Thierry Legrand: Lafarge has appointed a new country CEO for its South African operations. Thierry Legrand was formerly the General Manager of Lafarge in South Africa but has changed role in line with the French building material giant's worldwide restructuring programme.
"Implementing this new structure will allow us to focus more efficiently on our customers and get closer to our markets," said Legrand. "We will use the strengths of our different product lines to design solutions in line with our customers' needs."
Legrand has managed several senior portfolios within the Lafarge group, both in South Africa and Europe.
UK: The UK Competition Commission (CC) has announced that Anglo American plc (via UK subsidiary Tarmac) and Lafarge will have to sell a significant portfolio of operations, paving the way for entry by a new competitor into the UK cement market, before their proposed construction materials joint venture can go ahead.
In February 2012, the CC provisionally ruled that the proposed joint venture between Anglo American and Lafarge could damage competition in certain markets for construction materials. In its final report, the CC has reiterated its concern that the joint venture would increase the danger of coordination in the market for bulk cement and would reduce competition in local and national markets for other products including aggregates, asphalt and ready-mix concrete.
Anglo American and Lafarge will now be required to sell an extensive package of operations including:
• Lafarge's cement plant in Hope, Derbyshire as well as the nearby Dowlow quarry and three linked rail depots.
• A substantial network of readymix concrete plants, representing well over half of the proposed joint venture's readymix concrete capacity.
• Six aggregate quarries as well as Tarmac's share of two quarries owned through its Midlands Quarry Products joint venture with Hanson and one rail
depot.
• Two asphalt plants as well as Tarmac's share of five plants owned through Midlands Quarry Products joint venture.
The CC further stated that the sale would have to be completed before the joint venture would be allowed to proceed.
Lafarge North America moves to Illinois
18 April 2012US: Lafarge North America will relocate its headquarters from Virginia to Illinois, a move that is expected to create around 100 jobs.
The company, currently based in Reston, already has a presence in Illinois with a facility in South Chicago and about 300 employees in the state. The relocation would move its administrative offices and create around 90 jobs in the first two years. Company officials haven't determined a timeline for the move or the exact location but said the new headquarters would be near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
"The location and all of the infrastructure this area offers is very important: the airport, the trains, the rivers, the lakes and the roads," said John Stull, a CEO for Larfarge's cement and aggregate concrete operations. He added that the company does a majority of its business in the Midwest and a Chicago-area location made sense.
In exchange, Illinois is offering about US$6.3m million in tax incentives to the company, which the company only gets if it meets certain job creation and economic targets. Despite this Illinois has come under fire in recent months with some business groups and companies alleging an unfriendly business climate because of high taxes and state budget woes including US$8bn in unpaid bills.
Canada: René Thibault and Bob Cartmel have been appointed by the Lafarge Group as its senior leaders for all markets and product lines in Canada. Thibault will oversee the four western Provinces and three Territories as well as the Pacific north west and the Dakotas in the US. Cartmel will oversee the six Eastern Provinces.
Thibault has over 20 years of experience with Lafarge in Canada, which has included an assignment at the Lafarge group headquarters in Paris, France. He has an Engineering degree from Queen's University in Ontario and has completed executive studies at Harvard Business School in the US.
Cartmel has over 25 years of experience with Lafarge spanning Canada, the United States and Latin America. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario.
Lafarge said that the appointments, which are part of its wider geographical restructuring programme to bring all of Lafarge's businesses together under a single leader in each geographical area, would provide further career development opportunities for employees, strengthen the company's customer approach as it delivers sustainable solutions to the construction industry and allow its community investment projects to be more focused.
Lafarge penalty confirmed
04 April 2012South Africa: The French multinational Lafarge will pay US$19.3m after it was found guilty of involvement in a cement cartel in South Africa. The Competition Tribunal confirmed that the settlement represented 6% of Lafarge's 2010 turnover in the Southern African Customs Union countries (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia). AfriSam, another of the cartel participants, previously agreed to pay an 'administrative penalty' of US$16.1m.
Philippines prices rise in response to fuel increases
29 March 2012Philippines: Cement producers in the Philippines are raising their prices, as increases in fuel prices have not shown any sign of abating and the peak of the construction season is starting.
Trade and Industry Undersecretary for Consumer Welfare Zenaida C Maglaya said, that based on the Price Monitoring report released on Friday 23 March 2012, prices of two brands of cement Republic (Lafarge) and Rizal (Cemex) had increased. However, the price of Holcim Philippines Inc. dropped by 2.5% from February to March 2012. In June 2011 Holcim raised its prices by 6% in Luzon. The three global firms dominate the Philippine industry.
Cost of power and coal accounts for 40% of a cement company's total production expenses in the Philippines. Most of the cement firms source their coal supply from Semirara Coal Corp. Construction activities are higher during the summer months, normally starting early in the year and peaking in May.
Construction activity was fuelled by private sector spending in 2011, as the government did not spend much on infrastructure projects. However the Aquino administration has started accelerating investments and implementation of major infrastructure projects in 2012. Both infrastructure and private sector investments in property developments, including housing and commercial establishments, are expected to boost demand for construction materials, including cement.
India or bust
28 March 2012It's official: the big boys are heading to India this week.
First Lafarge head Bruno Lafont announced broad expansion plans in the subcontinent. Then a Holcim presentation emerged from earlier in 2012 projecting that the company expects India's overall construction market to take the global third position after China and the US by 2020.
With the Indian construction share set to rise from US$360bn in 2010 to US$840bn in 2020 that's one massive market share up for grabs. Throw in some interpretation from India's 2011 census and the signs are that its population could overtake China's by 2030. Sounds like an absolutely perfect opportunity for your average embattled European cement corporation!
Except that there's no such thing as a sure bet. As we covered previously, Indian cement consumption fell for the first time in 20 years in August 2011. The cause was put down to political problems holding up infrastructure in key states. In March 2012 we've had two stories that have impacted upon the local industry. First the Railway Board of India hiked the freight rates by 24%. Then the Union Budget for 2012-13 increased the excise and service tax. Clearly everybody wants a piece of the 'inevitable' bonanza. If anything impedes India's growth in the next decade there may be bargains going for cement on the export market.
Elsewhere this week we have stories on the potential cost of a proposed air pollution ruling upon two plants in the US state of Montana, more information on a revival in the Gulf Cooperation Council region and more capacity growth in Indonesia.