Displaying items by tag: Sales
Lafarge sells Maryland aggregates assets for US$320m
13 January 2014US: Lafarge has announced the sale of five aggregates quarries and related assets in Maryland to Bluegrass Materials for a total enterprise value of US$320m, subject to relevant regulatory approvals.
With these divestments, Lafarge has largely completed its strategy of refocusing on its core markets in the US. The company now operates a strong network of integrated positions mainly located in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River regions. These include nine cement or grinding plants and associated cement terminals with a combined capacity of 11Mt/yr, as well as related aggregates and concrete businesses in these markets.
Saudi labour crackdown pushes cement sales down by 30%
18 December 2013Saudi Arabia: Cement sales have dropped by 30% since the beginning of 'correction campaigns' against illegal foreign workers in early November 2013, according to Zamil Al-Miqrin, head of the National Committee for Cement Companies.
Speaking to local media, Al-Miqrin said the rate of sales reduction varies from one region to another adding that supplies currently surpass demand in the cement companies. The first week of the campaign saw a sharp fall in sales, as high as 50% for some companies, but Al-Miqrin expected an improvement in prices by the beginning of January 2014. He added that sales growth in cement had fallen by 10% in 2012 to 3% in 2013.
Saud Al-Araifi, CEO of the Northern Province Cement, said that cement producers in Saudi Arabia are unable to react to the crisis because exporting cement to foreign countries is banned by the Ministry of Commerce. He added that the crisis will be temporary until the current labour shortage in the construction market corrects itself. Other commentators have noted that the rate of stalled construction projects has been much higher in the private sector than in the government sector.
Arabian cement sales fell by 17% to 3.65Mt in November 2013
11 December 2013Saudi Arabia: Cement sales dropped by 17% year-on-year to 3.65Mt in November 2013 from 4.37Mt in November 2012, according to local media. The decline in sales was blamed on a campaign against migrant workers following the end of an amnesty period on 3 November 2013.
Sales of all of the cement companies fell during November 2013 with the exception of Northern Province Cement Company, Arabian Cement Company and Madinah Cement Company, whose sales increased by 58%, 24% and 20% respectively, according to data from Yamamah Cement Company. Riyadh Cement Company and Jouf Cement Company posted the biggest drop in November 2013 at 45% and 44% respectively. Sales by Saudi Cement Company and Yamamah fell by 21% and 32% respectively.
Sales of clinker for the country's fifteen cement companies rose by 9% year-on-year to 4.75Mt in November 2013 from 4.35Mt in November 2012.
Lafarge earns US$60m/yr from clinker sales in Bangladesh
11 December 2013Bangladesh: Lafarge Surma Cement (LSC) earns up to US$60m/yr from sales of clinker to other cement companies in the country. The Bangladesh-based subsidiary of Lafarge imports limestone from a quarry in Meghalaya, India via a 17km belt conveyor to its cement plant at Chhatak, Bangladesh. According to the Financial Express, the setup is the only cross-border industrial venture between India and Bangladesh.
Vicem sold 1.77Mt of cement and clinker in October 2013
11 November 2013Vietnam: State-owned Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem) has sold 1.77Mt of cement and clinker in October 2013, a year-on-year increase of 5%.
1.47Mt of cement and clinker was sold in the domestic market, a year-on-year reduction of 8.3%, while 0.31Mt was exported, a 243.8% increase when compared with October 2012.
The Vietnamese company produced 1.34Mt of clinker and 1.32Mt of cement in October 2013, down by 5.9% and 7.1% respectively compared with October 2012.
During the first 10 months of 2013 Vicem's cement and clinker sales reached 17.7Mt, a 9.2% increase on the same period of 2012. 15.8Mt was sold in the domestic market and 1.8Mt was exported, representing increases of 4.8% and 74.2% compared with the same period in 2012. During the first 10 months of 2013, Vicem's cement output rose by 9.3% year-on-year to 12.39Mt.
Vicem projects that its cement and clinker sales will reach 1.91Mt in November 2013, and aims to produce 1.39Mt of clinker and 1.63Mt of cement in the same period.
Holcim third quarter profit beats expectations
05 November 2013Switzerland: Holcim Ltd said that falling demand in key markets, including India and Brazil, weighed on third quarter sales, but the Zurich-based cement maker still posted earnings ahead of expectations as business picked up in Europe and the Americas.
In the three months to the end of September 2013 Holcim's net income rose to Euro381m from Euro319m for the same period of 2012. Revenue fell to Euro4284m from Euro4668m year-on-year, as demand in India and Mexico fell.
Holcim said that cost cutting helped boost earnings but cautioned that the volume of cement it sells will likely slip below its expectations for the whole of 2013. Holcim gets the vast majority of its sales outside of Switzerland, with its biggest market, India, generating around a third of its revenue. The company still expects to post a rise in operating profit in 2013.
US: Eagle Materials has reported financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2014, which ended 30 September 2013. Total revenues were up by 53% to US$252.6m. Earnings before interest and income taxes (EBIT) were US$63.5m, an increase of 114% compared to the same quarter of the prior fiscal year.
Sales volumes were improved across all lines, with cement sales volumes of 1.4Mt providing earnings of US$32.4m, an 86% increase from the same quarter of fiscal 2013. The earnings increase resulted from increased sales volumes and average net cement sales prices, which were 3% higher than the second quarter in fiscal 2013.
Public litigation threatens Jaypee sale
20 September 2013India: The Indian high court in Gujarat has ordered that a US$600m deal to sell the Kutch cement plant from Jaypee Cement to UltraTech Cement will be subject of outcome of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by local villagers.
According to the Times of India, the Kharai panchayat has filed a PIL complaining that the cement company has encroached upon grazing land, water bodies and public roads. The PIL demands that the encroachment should be removed and that the high court should intervene to make the area free from pollution caused by mining and the dumping of dust.
Counsel Mehul Sharad Shah contended that over 5000 hectares of land was given at a cheap rate to Gujarat Anjan Cement to create a cement plant for a lease period of 1997 to 2008 on the condition that the company would put up construction within two years. After not following the condition, it transferred the lease for US$120m to Jayprakash Associates, which merged with the J P Corporation. The PIL alleges that the company encroached on gauchar land, water bodies, public roads and began polluting by dumping alkali dust. Cuts in jobs for local labourers has also added to tension in the area.
The high court has said that the transfer of lease will be subject to final outcome of the PIL.
Jaypee Cement to sell 51% stake in Gujarat cement plant to Ultratech
11 September 2013India: Jaypee Cement plans to sell a 51% stake in its 5Mt/yr cement plant in Gujarat to Ultratech. The value of the deal has been placed at around US$633m. A Jaypee official described the deal as 'finalised' to the Press Trust of India.
Jaypee and Ultratech have been in negotiations over the deal for a year. Ultratech reported to the Bombay Stock Exchange in December 2012 that it had not issued any press releases on the rumoured sale in a bid to calm market speculation.
In 2008 the owner of Jaypee Cement, Jaiprakash Associates, purchased purchased Bina Power Supply (BPSL) from the owner of Ultratech, Aditya Birla Group.
Lafarge sells Honduras cement plant to Cementos Argos
03 September 2013Honduras: Lafarge has sold its cement operations in Honduras to Cementos Argos for Euro232m. Sold assets include a 1Mt/yr cement plant and a 0.3Mt/yr grinding plant. The sale is subject to regulatory approval.
The transaction had a total enterprise value of Euro435m based on a 2012 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) multiple of 8.6. Lafarge owns 53.3% of its Honduran subsidiary, Lafarge Cementos SA de CV.