Displaying items by tag: Adelaide Brighton
Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s cement sales volumes rose in the first half of 2018 due to new infrastructure projects and ‘strong’ markets in Melbourne and Sydney. Its sales rose by 11.7% year-on-year to US$593m from US$531m in the same period in 2017. Its net profit after tax increased by 17.7% to US$62m from US$53m.
Chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director Martin Brydon said that the company had benefited from improved demand across residential, non-residential and infrastructure sector in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, with ‘stable’ demand in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The building material producer’s cement prices increased in most markets. However, it said that import costs were ‘adversely’ affected by higher shipping and material procurement costs, and negative currency effects. Demand for lime was stable with sales similar to the first half of 2017. Margins were hit by increased energy costs, although this is expected to be recovered through price increases.
Martin Brydon to retire from Adelaide Brighton
23 May 2018Australia: Martin Brydon plans to retire from Adelaide Brighton. No time scale has been specified but he intends to remain with the business while its finds a successor for him.
Brydon, aged 62 years, has been in post since 2014. He holds over 30 years of experience in the construction materials industry ranging from electrical engineering, operational and general management, sales and marketing and strategy and business development.
Others executive changes at the building materials producer include the appointment of Zlatko Todorcevski as chairman of the board. He succeeds Leslie Hosking, who has decided to retire. Todorcevski, aged 50 years, has been a non-executive director since March 2017 and he was named chairman elect in February 2018. A training accountant he holds 30 years experience in the oil and gas, logistics and manufacturing sectors gained in Australia and overseas with a background in finance, strategy and planning.
Graeme Pettigrew has also retired as a non-executive director of Adelaide Brighton after 14 years of service at the company. He had been a non-executive director since 2004. The former chief executive officer of CSR Building Products held experience in the building materials industry in South East Asia and the UK through former roles as the managing director of Chubb Australia and Wormald Security Australia.
Adelaide Brighton renews cement deal with BHP Billiton
20 April 2018Australia: Adelaide Brighton has signed a deal with BHP Billiton for the continuation of supply of cement and lime to BHP’s Olympic Dam mine in South Australia. The new contract maintains and extends the long-term relationship between subsidiaries of the companies. It is expected this relationship will continue for a number of years.
Australia: Adelaide Brighton has publicly dismissed media speculation about its alleged plans to purchase Barro Group. The building materials producer said that whilst it had proposed transaction plans to Barro at ‘various times’ no agreement has been reached on any such deal.
Analysts at the investment bank Citi said that Adelaide Brighton’s management were keen to buy the US$384m cement business owned by its major shareholder, the Barro Group, according to the Australian newspaper. However, the analysts said they believed the complex shareholding structure could pose problems.
Australia: Adelaide Brighton is reportedly considering buying the cement business of Barro Group for around US$387m. Barro Group is a major stockholder in Adelaide Brighton that recently increased its stake to 40%, according to the Australian newspaper. The increase in its stake has generated speculation about the relationship between the two companies.
Barro Group operates Independent Cement and Lime (ICL), a joint venture with Adelaide Brighton and Barro. ICL is a specialist supplier of cement and cement blended products throughout Victoria and New South Whales and is also the exclusive distributor of cement for Adelaide Brighton.
Adelaide Brighton’s sales up on improved markets in Australia
28 February 2018Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s revenue rose by 11.7% to US$1.22bn in 2017 from US$1.09bn. The building materials producer said that the boost, although aided by acquisitions in 2017, was due to ‘strong’ demand in east coast markets, improving demand in South Australia and stabilising demand in Western Australia. However, its net profit after tax fell by 2.2% to US$142m from US$145m. It blamed this on one off provisions, acquisition costs and restructuring expenses.
For its cement business, the company said that cement and clinker sales volume rose by 9% in 2017, assisted by a ‘particularly’ strong second half. Strong volume growth continued in 2017 in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales.
Sales volumes in Western Australia and Northern Territory declined in the first half but stabilised in the second half to be modestly lower for the year. Cement sales in South Australia improved, supported by the ramp-up of major infrastructure projects in the second half.
The cement producer also reported that in April 2017 its Birkenhead plant experienced a temporary issue with the quality of cement that incurred rectification costs of US$2.8m during the first half of the year. The quality issue arose due to lower grade feed making its way into the cement milling process. Fixes to inventory management and quality processes were made to address the issue and production and quality returned to normal shortly after the incident.
New appointments at Adelaide Brighton
14 February 2018Australia: Adelaide Brighton has announced the appointment of Vanessa Guthrie and Geoff Tarrant to the Adelaide Brighton Board as non-executive Directors, effective 8 February 2018. Company Chairman Les Hosking said that the appointments of Dr Guthrie and Mr Tarrant were part of Adelaide Brighton's Board renewal process.
Dr Guthrie has qualifications in geology, environment, law and business management, including a Doctor of Philosophy in Geology. She has more than 30 years' experience in the mining and resources industry across a variety of roles including operations, environment, community, indigenous affairs, corporate development and sustainability. She was previously CEO and Managing Director of Toro Energy Limited and Vice President Sustainable Development at Woodside Energy. Dr Guthrie is currently Chair of the Minerals Council of Australia and a non-executive Director of Santos Limited, Vimy Resources Limited and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Mr Tarrant has a Bachelor of Business and is a finance executive with over 25 years' experience gained in Australia, the UK and Asia. He is currently engaged in a corporate finance consultancy role with Deutsche Bank, where he has held a number of senior roles since 2002, primarily in mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. Prior to this he held finance roles with Citigroup, National Australia Bank and Price Waterhouse.
Adelaide Brighton signs gas and electricity deals
05 December 2017Australia: Adelaide Brighton has signed new gas and electricity contracts in South Australia. It has entered into an agreement with Beach Energy for the supply of gas to its South Australian operations. It has also entered into an agreement with Infigen Energy for the supply of its electricity requirements to the Birkenhead and Angaston cement plants and Klein Point Quarry on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. The new agreements are intended to manage the company’s energy requirements and costs following a series of blackouts in the region.
The cement producer said that its energy strategy includes: a portfolio approach to energy supply and procurement benefits; consumption management and operational efficiency; the aim of obtaining 30% of energy supply from alternative fuels in the medium term; use of alternative cementitious materials in place of more energy intensive products; cost recovery through vertical integration and long term customer relationships; and financial strategies.
Adelaide Brighton to use green power
28 November 2017Australia: Adelaide Brighton will power some of its facilities with electricity from a 278.5MW wind farm owned by Infigen Energy, according to the Australian Financial Review. Adelaide Brighton will use the electricity to supply two of its cement plants near Adelaide, South Australia, and a quarry on Yorke Peninsula.
The two companies have signed a contract that calls for the cement manufacturer to buy power from the Lake Bonney wind farm for a five-year term. Specific terms of the deal have not been provided, while the contracted amount is said to be more than the 88GWh that were contracted in a bulk power purchase agreement (PPA) deal for a wind project in Melbourne earlier in November 2017.
Adelaide Brighton investigates deliberate underpayments
13 November 2017Australia: Adelaide Brighton is investigating a series of transactions to a small number of customers who may have underpaid for the products supplied to them. The cement producer says it is investigating the situation ‘fully’ with the aid of the forensic accountants KPMG. It added that it is possible that an employee of the company is involved.
The company believes, that, based on the evidence so far, it appears that there may have been deliberately hidden underpayments by customers over a sustained period. This may have a negative impact on the company’s 2017 earning before interest and taxation (EBIT), currently estimated to be up to US$11m, less the impact of any recoveries that may be made. Adelaide Brighton has reported the situation to its auditors and will co-operate with relevant authorities as the investigation proceeds.