Displaying items by tag: LafargeHolcim
Philippines: Eagle Cement says that it is not involved in any discussion for the acquisition of Holcim Philippines. However, it did say that its chairman Ramon S Ang had expressed interest in a potential purchase of the subsidiary of LafargeHolcim. Eagle Cement made the announcement following local media reports that Ang had formally submitted a bid to buy Holcim Philippines. In January 2019 LafargeHolcim was said to be to be considering selling its business in the country.
Electricity supply disrupted ahead of commissioning of Nomayos grinding plant in Cameroon
05 March 2019Cameroon: The electricity supply in parts of central and southern Cameroon has been disrupted whilst a substation at Nomayos near Yaoundé is connected to the main network. The disruption is necessary ahead of the commissioning of Cimencam’s Nomayos cement grinding plant, which is scheduled for the first quarter of 2019, according to Business in Cameroon. The new plant will have a production capacity of 0.5Mt/yr. It has an investment of around US$40m.
El Salvadoran competition body fines Holcim
01 March 2019El Salvador: The Board of Directors of the Superintendence of Competition (CDSC) has fined Holcim El Salvador US$82,000 for failing to provide data for an investigation. The CDSC started its investigation in mid-2018, according to Summa magazine. However, the subsidiary of LafargeHolcim has been accused of delaying submitting information to the competition data in the autumn of 2018.
France: LafargeHolcim has been awarded contracts worth Euro110m as part of the Euro38.5bn Grand Paris Express (GPE) project. The GPE will improve transport infrastructure in Paris in preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games. It will require around 200km of new railway line and 68 new stations.
LafargeHolcim will deliver 600,000t of aggregates and 260,000t of cement to produce 650,000m3 of ready-mix concrete. To support the project’s schedule, the company has added mobile ready-mix concrete plants to its existing Parisian ready-mix concrete network, enabling an average production of 300m3/hr for the GPE. It will remove and treat at least 3Mt of earth from the construction site, then use the excavated material to re-landscape its nearby quarries. For the transportation of both aggregates coming from nearby quarries situated in the Seine valley and the excavated earth, LafargeHolcim will use barges on the River Seine. The company aims to work on the GPE over the next 15 years.
“We are proud to be a key partner on this historic project. With this partnership we are demonstrating our leadership in the building materials industry, making a lasting contribution to improving the transport experience of the people living and working in the Paris area. The project once more shows our capacity and reliability in delivering a large amount of high-quality concrete and our ability to provide efficient logistics and supply solutions,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Jan Jenisch.
Holcim Philippines completes upgrade at La Union cement plant
22 February 2019Philippines: Holcim Philippines has completed an upgrade at its La Union cement plant in Bacnotan. The unit now has a cement production capacity of 1.8Mt/yr from 1Mt/yr previously, according to the Manila Times newspaper. The improvements have been completed two months ahead of schedule. The upgrade is intended to support the development of North Luzon.
The expansion is part of a US$300m production capacity drive at its plants in the country. It plans to increase its national production capacity by 30% to 13Mt/yr by 2020. The second phase of the project involves installing new kilns, mills and a waste-recovery system at its plants in Bulacan and Misamis Oriental provinces.
Bimlendra Jha appointed head of Ambuja Cement
20 February 2019India: Bimlendra Jha has been appointed as the managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Ambuja Cement, with immediate effect.
He joins the subsidiary of LafargeHolcim from Tata Steel where he has spent nearly three decades of his career. Over the past six years, he has held multiple leadership roles, including Executive Chairman Long Products Europe, Executive Director on the Board of Tata Steel Europe and CEO Tata Steel UK, looking after operations in UK, Sweden, and Canada.
He holds a B. Tech in Ceramic Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Varanasi and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management, Marketing and Finance from the Xavier School of Management Jamshedpur.
Ambuja Cement fights energy cost inflation in 2018
19 February 2019India: Ambuja Cement’s earnings fell in 2018 due to rising energy and fuel costs. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim says it has implemented efficiency and cost saving programs to mitigate these effects. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 6% year-on-year to US$265m in 2018 from US$266m in 2017. Despite this, the company’s sales volumes of cement grew by 5% to 24.2Mt from 23Mt. Its sales revenue rose by 7% to US1.54bn from US$1.44bn. Overall, the consolidated results for both Ambuja Cement and its fellow subsidiary ACC, saw growth in EBITDA, net sales and sales volumes of cement.
UK: Aggregate Industries has launched a new product range of high early strength concretes, specifically designed for use in structural, void-fill, pavement and track bed applications. The Strike+ range is available in four different strength settings in various levels of consistency, making it suitable for use with a number of placement methods including pump, skip and direct. The range also offers properties, including high resistance to chlorides, low surface absorption, low shrinkage and high freeze-thaw resistance.
“With a greater onus on contractors to deliver ever more complex builds to tighter budgets and reduced deadlines, speed, efficiency and durability during the construction process has never been more critical. That’s why we’ve launched our new Strike+ range of high early strength concretes,” said David Porter, Area Manager Concrete (East Midlands) at Aggregate Industries.
Strike+ products are manufactured and delivered using volumetric concrete mixers, with water only added to the mix at the point of use. The ranges consist of specially blended binders, PC52.5N CEM1 (BSEN 197) and carefully selected concrete aggregates (BSEN 1260).
LafargeHolcim considering options in Middle East and Africa
07 February 2019Switzerland: LafargeHolcim is considering options, including divestments, for its businesses in the Middle East and Africa. Unnamed sources quoted by Bloomberg say that the company has held early talks with advisors about selling assets and it is also looking at an initial public offering (IPO). If it decides to sell its entire business in this region it may seek up to US$8bn. However, the sources thought that finding a buyer at this scale might prove difficult given market conditions. In 2018 the building materials producer operated 44 integrated and cement grinding plants in the region, 30 aggregates plants and 212 ready-mix concrete plants. LafargeHolcim has declined to comment on the report.
Australia/New Zealand: George Agriogiannis has been appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) at Holcim Australia and New Zealand. He succeeds Mark Campbell, according to the Australian newspaper. Agriogiannis was previously the executive general manager of concrete and aggregates at Adelaide Brighton. His departure coincides with new CEO Nick Miller officially taking up the post. Agriogiannis starts the new job with the LafargeHolcim subsidiary on 11 March 2019.