Displaying items by tag: Finance
Shareholders add capital to Medcem Cameroon
21 April 2016Cameroon: The share capital of Medcem Cameroon has risen to US$689,000 from US$17,200, the company has revealed in a statement. However, the cement grinding plant has not produced cement for the local market in at least six months according to the Agence de Presse Africaine. Medcem’s production stopped after several shutdowns earlier in 2015 and a period of testing in late August 2015.
Medcem Cameroon, a subsidiary of Turkish company Eren Holding, has a cement production capacity of 0.6Mt/yr. Les Cimenteries du Cameroun (CIMENCAM), a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, and Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF), part of the Moroccan Addoha group, both operate integrated cement plants in the country. Dangote inaugurated a cement grinding plant in August 2015 and Mira is also planning to build a grinding plant in the country.
Cemex takes charge of its debts
16 March 2016Cemex has taken action towards its debts over the course of the last week. First, it announced that it had amended its credit agreements in order to delay the looming effects of consolidated financial leverage and coverage ratio limits by one year to March 2017 with other similar deadlines also delayed. Then it announced the pricing of US$1bn of Senior Secured Notes due in 2026, a form of secured borrowing. This was followed by confirmation of asset sales in Bangladesh and Thailand. Finally, it announced that it was seeking regulatory permission to sell a minority stake in its subsidiary in the Philippines.
This column has discussed the on-going financial travails at Cemex a few times, notably recently when the group released its fourth quarter results for 2015 and in the wake of HeidelbergCement’s announcement to buy Italcementi. Basically, it all comes down to debt, as the following graph shows.
Figure 1 - Cemex assets, debt and equity, 2006 - 2015
Cemex took on large amounts of debt following its acquisition of Rinker in 2007. Since then the value of its assets have been falling faster than it has been able to reduce its debts. However, its equity (assets minus debts) is looking like it might dip below its debts in 2016. Hence, action needs to be taken. Cemex appears to have attempted to do this over the last week. Will it be enough?
The credit amendment was probably the most pressing issue for the Cemex management given that the terms have been reliant on maintaining a leverage ratio (debt divided by assets) below a set limit. Cemex has extended the terms of the borrowing in its favour so it can keep the leverage ratio higher for longer without penalty from its creditors. Note that the leverage ratio here means the ratio between debt and operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA).
Selling assets and shares in Asia is the next step in cutting debt in the window the group has negotiated for itself. It holds minor cement production assets in Thailand and Bangladesh that it is selling to Siam City Cement for US$53m. These include a 0.8Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Saraburi, Thailand and a 0.52Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Madangonj, Bangladesh. Unfortunately for Cemex it purchased the Saraburi plant for US$77m in 2001 from Saraburi Cement making it a loss of at least US$24m.
A minority sale of shares in its Philippines assets is more promising. The group runs two integrated cement plants in the country, the Solid Cement Plant in Rizal and the APO Cement Plant in Cebu with a combined cement production capacity of 6.23Mt/yr and a new 1.5Mt/yr production line on the way at Solid Cement also. Local media estimate that the sale could earn Cemex as much as US$850m from the booming market. The Cement Manufacturer's Association of the Philippines reported that cement sales volumes grew by 14.3% to 24.4Mt in 2015 with more growth predicted for 2016.
The credit amendment and asset sales of US$0.9bn may give Cemex the breathing room it requires to keep the creditors at bay for a while longer. It originally refinanced its debts in 2009 at the height of the financial crisis to keep the business running until the markets picked up again. They haven’t. A question that might be legitimately asked at Cemex’s analyst day later this week, on 17 March 2016, is this: when is Cemex going to seriously tackle its debts? As the situation continues the group may end up devoting more time to managing its debts than it will to actually making cement and other building products.
Cemex obtains consent to amend its credit agreement
08 March 2016Mexico: Cemex has obtained consent to amend its credit agreement dated 29 September 2014 in order to delay the scheduled tightening in its consolidated financial leverage and coverage ratio limits by one year. The formalisation of the amendment is subject to customary conditions and is expected to be finalised in the following days.
The amendment to the credit agreement will allow the leverage ratio covenant to remain at 6.0 times until and including 31 March 2017. It will then gradually decline to 4.0 times by 30 June 2020. The margin grid in the credit agreement will be modified such that if the consolidated leverage ratio is greater than 5.50 times in the reference periods ending on 31 December 2016, 31 March 2017, 30 June 2017 and 30 September 2017. The applicable margin will be 425 bps instead of 400 bps. All other levels in the margin grid remain unchanged.
In addition, the credit agreement will be amended to allow Cemex the right, subject to meeting local requirements in the Philippines, to sell a minority stake in a subsidiary that directly and indirectly mainly owns Cemex’s cement manufacturing assets in the Philippines.
Suez Cement denies it plans to exist Egyptian market
08 March 2016Egypt: Suez Cement has denied that it is planning to leave the Egyptian market. The announcement comes in response to media speculation following the cement producer’s admission that it has been unable to repatriate profits of Euro50m from the country for about a year. Suez Cement is 55% owned by Italian cement producer Italcementi.
Suez Cement’s Managing Director Bruno Carre blamed the problem on a foreign currency crisis in Egypt. The country’s central bank has introduced measures to reduce non-essential imports to save hard currency. Subsequently, businesses are unable to access US Dollars for imports and goods are piling up at ports.
Russia: Sberbank CIB, the investment banking arm of Russian lender Sberbank, has announced that it holds 6% of LafargeHolcim following a repurchase deal with Eurocement. Under the terms of the agreement, Sberbank CIB had organised financing for Eurocement Holding AG in return for 37m shares in LafargeHolcim. Eurocement has the right to buy back the shares at a specific price and on a certain date.
The agreement was implemented on 21 January 2016. No further details were disclosed. Before the repurchase deal Eurocement was among the largest shareholders of LafargeHolcim.
Eurocement asks for US$634m loan from Sberbank
22 June 2015Russia: Eurocement Group has asked the country's biggest bank Sberbank for a US$634m of project financing, according to company President Mikhail Skorokhod. "We expect that in the last 10 days of June 2015, we will be able to receive approval on this request from an interdepartmental commission," he said.
Sberbank has already approved US$248m from the total request, which will be spent on construction of its 10,000t/day (~4Mt/yr) Mikhailovsky plant in the Ryazan Region.
Eurocement also plans to attract US$300m of financing from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China to upgrade its plants. The request has been submitted to China's Sinosure, and is currently being reviewed.
PPC profit falls by 9% due to lower local sales
18 November 2014South Africa: PPC has announced that its full-year profit declined by 9% as its Africa expansion plan failed to offset declining sales in the domestic market. Net income was US$76.7m in the year through November 2014, compared with US$84.1m a year earlier. Sales grew by 9% year-on-year to US$8.13bn. Cement sales volumes grew by 2% year-on-year. "Performance was hampered by industrial action on the platinum belt, which had an adverse impact on trading conditions in South Africa," said PPC.
Cemex to lower financing costs by up to US$165m with new plan
01 October 2014Mexico: Cemex has announced that it will lower its annual financing costs by up to US$165m following the adoption of a new refinancing plan. The plan will also allow the firm to raise its annual investment limit to US$1bn from US$800m, according to Chief Finance Officer Jose Antonio Gonzalez.
Gonzalez also said that Cemex will continue looking to refinance debt that expires in 2015 and it expects that conversion of 2016 bonds to shares will further lower its debt. The company also announced that it had signed a new credit agreement with nine banks worth US$1.35bn, the proceeds of which will be used to refinance debt.
US: Eagle Materials has reported financial results for the first quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, which ended on 30 June 2014. First quarter earnings before interest and income taxes increased by 21% year-on-year to US$59.8m, as first quarter sales volumes improved across nearly all businesses areas and sales prices improved in all businesses.
Operating earnings from cement for the first quarter were US$20.5m, an 8% increase from the same quarter of the 2014 fiscal year. The earnings increase was driven by record cement sales volumes and a 5% increase in average net cement sales prices. While cement demand continues to recover, extraordinary rail congestion associated with the harsh winter weather adversely impacted the timing of cement shipments during the first quarter. Cement revenues, including joint venture and intersegment revenues, totalled US$128m, up by 9% year-on-year. Cement sales volumes were 1.3Mt, up by 4% year-on-year. The average net sales price grew by 5% year-on-year.
Tunisia: Carthage Cement Company's turnover for the first six months of 2014 amounted to US$87.5m excluding VAT, up by 419% compared to the same period of 2013. Clinker sales totalled US$16.6m, while cement sales amounted to US$55.1m, including US$14.5m of exports. Sales of ready-mix concrete grew by 25% compared to the same period in 2013.