Displaying items by tag: Italy
Buzzi Unicem sales revenue rises by 6.2% to Euro2.66bn in 2015
11 February 2016Italy: Buzzi Unicem has reported that its revenue rose by 6.2% year-on-year to Euro2.66bn in 2015 from Euro2.51bn in 2014. Clinker and cement sales volumes increased by 1.7% to 25.6Mt from 25.1Mt. It attributed the growth to market recovery in the US and Eastern Europe and an additional contribution from the Korkino cement plant in Russia.
Following a sharp drop in business during the first six months of 2015, the group reported that the recovery in international trade recorded in the second half of the year was weaker and less than expected, especially in mature countries. Subsequently, its growth in 2015 was half of its previous estimate. Construction activity in the last quarter of 2015 was bolstered by a dry and mild climate in Italy, Central and Eastern Europe allowing construction activity to remain at levels above the seasonal average.
The group’s net debt fell to Euro1.03bn in 2015 from Euro1.06bn in 2014. It expects from preliminary data that its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) will be Euro470m in 2015.
Cementir profit rises by 3.1% to Euro103m in 2015
11 February 2016Italy: Cementir Holding has reported that its profit rose by 3.1% year-on-year to Euro103m in 2015 from Euro100m in 2014. Its revenue rose by 2.2% to Euro969m from Euro948m. It attributed the growth to good performance of operations in the Scandinavian countries, Malaysia, Italy and Egypt.
“The Group ended 2015 with earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in excess of the target of Euro190m. Improved performance in Scandinavian countries and Italy, plus the stable contribution of the Far East, offset the lower earnings in Turkey and Egypt caused by socio-political tensions across the Mediterranean and the Middle East, as well as the negative impact of the depreciation of some foreign currencies,” said Francesco Caltagirone Jr, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cementir. He added that the group reduced its net debt to Euro222m in 2015.
The Italy-based building materials company produced 9.37Mt of cement in 2015, a decrease of 2% year-on-year from 9.56Mt in 2014.
HeidelbergCement issues Euro625m of debt certificates
15 January 2016Germany: HeidelbergCement has successfully issued debt certificates in the amount of Euro625m, further strengthening its financing structure. Due to high demand, it was possible to significantly increase the issue volume from Euro400m to Euro625m.
The newly-issued debt certificates, with a maturity date of 20 January 2022, consist of two tranches; one tranche with a floating rate and the other with a fixed rate. The fixed rate tranche yields at 1.85%/yr and the floating tranche at 1.5%/yr over six months Euribor.
The proceeds will be utilised to pre-fund the upcoming Italcementi acquisition and thereby reduce the volume of the bridge financing from Euro3.3bn to Euro2.7bn. The refinancing needs in the bond market decline to below Euro2bn, correspondingly.
Issuance of the debt certificates was secured with the assistance of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen and Raiffeisen Bank International.
As previously reported, the bridge financing should be refinanced by free cash flow, the sale of production sites and the issuance of bonds. The reduction in the volume of bridge financing thus also reduces the need for refinancing in the bond market by the same amount.
Cementir Italia offers Euro125m to buy Sacci cement assets
30 December 2015Italy: Italian cement producer Sacci has accepted a Euro125m offer from Cementir Italia for the acquisition of a branch of Sacci, including assets in the cement, concrete and transport sector, replacing a previous offer presented by Buzzi Unicem. Cementir Italia will pay part of the price at the closing of the operation and the remaining part 24 months later.
Italcementi job cuts halved ahead of takeover
04 December 2015Italy: Labour undersecretary Teresa Bellanova has announced that layoffs at Italcementi will be 538, not 1080 as earlier reported. The deal to reduce job losses in Italcementi's workforce of 3000 in the was hammered out by government, unions and management ahead of the Euro3.7bn takeover by HeidelbergCement.
Italy's antitrust body opens probe into alleged cement price fixing
27 November 2015Italy: Italy's antitrust authority has opened an investigation into four cement companies for alleged price fixing and, with the tax police, has searched the offices of the companies, according to Reuters. The companies under investigation are Buzzi Unicem, Cementir Italia, Industria Cementi Giovanni Rossi and Holcim Italia.
"The case concerns the possibility of an agreement to coordinate cement sales price increases," said the authority in a statement.
Holcim Italia, part of LafargeHolcim, confirmed the inspections. It said that the company had always acted according to the law and has 'policies and procedures in place that are designed to ensure compliance with principles and rules of fair competition prohibiting anti-competitive behaviour and the abuse of a dominant market position.' Buzzi said that it is confident that it will be able to demonstrate during the investigation that it had always acted in compliance with competition law.
Buzzi Unicem’s revenue grew by 5.2% in the first nine months of 2015
11 November 2015Italy: Buzzi Unicem's profit in the first nine months of 2015 grew to Euro120m from Euro51.4m in the same period of 2014. Its revenues increased by 5.2% year-on-year to Euro1.99m and its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 16.4% to Euro352m.
Buzzi said it sees good momentum of demand in the US, but suffered from 'remarkably lower results' in Ukraine and Russia, penalised by the depreciation of the local currencies. Deliveries were subdued in Central Europe, while in Italy cement consumption is still down.
For the whole of 2015, Buzzi confirmed that it expects its recurring EBITDA to improve to approximately Euro450m.
Italcementi and trade unions renew talks
16 October 2015Italy: Italian cement maker Italcementi and Italian trade unions are looking for a solution for the temporary lay-off scheme that will expire in January 2016.
At a meeting on 15 October 2015, the parties determined that it is not possible to extend the current temporary lay-off scheme and consequently they are studying alternatives that would allow wider coverage compared to the initial programmes.
In a statement the trade unions explain that one of the hypotheses could entail the use of the scheme for total cessation of the activities at the plants in Monselice and Scafa, already suspended for years, as well as the partial cessation for the plants in Castrovillari, Sarche di Calavino and Salerno that could be concluded in January 2017.
Besides, a temporary lay-off scheme may be decided for the remaining group's employees that could last until September 2017. The parties will meet again on 2 November 2015.
Bedeschi purchases US unit from Dearborn
25 September 2015Italy/US: Bedeschi SPA of Padua, Italy has announced the recent asset purchase of Bedeschi Mid-West Conveyor LLC (BMWC) from Dearborn Mid-West Conveyor Co, a leading provider of turnkey bulk material handling systems for the utility, mining, cement, fertilizer, refinery and marine terminal markets.
Founded in 1947 BMWC is located in Lenexa, Kansas, from where it designs, fabricates and installs bulk materials handling systems.
Rino Bedeschi, Managing Director of the Bedeschi Group said, "We are excited about BMWC becoming part of the Bedeschi Team. Having been in business for 107 years, we are sure the merger will serve our clients with a wider range of products and services with broader organisational capabilities for future domestic and international projects."
Italcementi sells minority stake in West China Cement for Euro39m
21 September 2015China/Italy: Italcementi has sold its 5.24% stake in West China Cement for Euro39m. The price is subject to further adjustment, the group said in an announcement on 18 September 2015. Italcementi has sold the stake through its CimFra Limited subsidiary in China, and said the transaction would have no impact on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) generation capacity at group level.