Displaying items by tag: Switzerland
LafargeHolcim will sell Indian assets to Nirma Ltd
11 July 2016India/Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has announced that it has entered into a letter agreement with Nirma Limited subject to approval by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the divestment of its interest in Lafarge India for an enterprise value of approximately US$1.4bn. Lafarge India operates three cement plants and two grinding stations with a total capacity of around 11Mt/yr. The company also markets aggregates and is one of India’s leading ready-mix concrete manufacturers. The proceeds from the divestment will be used to reduce LafargeHolcim’s debt.
Eric Olsen, CEO of LafargeHolcim, said, “This agreement is an important step in our US$3.6bn divestment programme. With this deal, two thirds of the programme has been secured and it is well on track. We are confident that we will meet our target by the end of this year. With the proposed buyer we have found the right partner who will be able to develop the business further in the interest of all of our stakeholders.”
LafargeHolcim will continue to operate in India through its subsidiaries ACC Ltd. and Ambuja Cements Ltd., which have a combined cement capacity of more than 60Mt/yr and a distribution network that extends across the entire country.
Lafarge India sale moves to final stage
07 July 2016India/Switzerland/UK: The five bidders that gave their final bids for Lafarge India’s 11Mt/yr cement business have been called to London, UK for the final leg of discussions, which started on 7 July 2016. Multinational bidders, including Mexico’s Cemex and China’s Anhui Conch, are believed to have bid aggressively. Domestic bidders Ajay Piramal Group, Nirma and Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Cement also submitted bids earlier in the week.
The bids are in the range of Euro1.19-1.33bn, which implies an enterprise value of US$108-121/t, comparable to UltraTech’s recent acquisition of JP Group’s cement assets for US$116/t.
“This discussion in London could take three to four days to finalise,” said a banker familiar with the development. “The winner will be decided not just on the price quoted for assets but also other conditions for the bid,” he said. Once the winning bid is decided, an exclusivity agreement will be signed with the bidder and it will take around three months to complete the deal.
Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has appointed Alessandra Girolami as the group’s new Head of Investor Relations from 1 September 2016. Girolami will report to group chief financial officer Ron Wirahadiraksa. She replaces Michel Gerber, who will leave the group.
Girolami joins LafargeHolcim from the Carrefour Group, where she has been in Investor Relations since 2005 and Head of Financial Communications and Investor Relations since 2014. She began her career at ABN AMRO as a sell-side analyst. Girolami graduated from ESCP Europe with a major in finance and holds a postgraduate degree in Applied Economics from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris.
LafargeHolcim to sell assets in nine more countries
14 June 2016Switzerland: LafargeHolcim plans to sell assets in nine additional countries as part of its post-merger divestment programme, according to the Financial Times. The announcement follows a portfolio review. However, LafargeHolcim did not name the locations of the proposed sales. In March 2016 the group released details of sales in South Korea and Saudi Arabia and plans to merge its operations in Morocco. This followed plans to generate Euro3.16bn from divestments in 2016.
Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has appointed Caroline Luscombe as the group’s new Head of Organisation and Human Resources and member of the Executive Committee. Her role starts from 1 July 2016 and she will be based in Zurich. She succeeds Jean-Jacques Gauthier.
Luscombe joins LafargeHolcim from Syngenta where she has been Head of Human Resources since January 2010 and a member of the Executive Committee since 2012. Prior to joining Syngenta, Luscombe held senior human resource roles in the financial and healthcare businesses of the GE Group, and in the speciality chemical company, Laporte.
Having led the human resource integration between Lafarge and Holcim, Jean-Jacques Gauthier will be appointed as the Country Chief Executive Officer in Algeria from 1 September 2016. On taking up his new role, Jean-Jacques will relinquish his position on the Executive Committee.
Switzerland: LafargeHolcim’s net sales have fallen by 5.5% year-on-year to Euro6.06bn in the first quarter of 2016 from Euro6.41bn in the same period in 2015. Its sales volumes of cement rose slightly by 1.4% to 56.6Mt from 55.8Mt. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 15.6% to Euro774m. It blamed the fall in sales on ‘challenging conditions’ in Nigeria, Brazil and India.
By region the cement producer reported that sales volumes of cement in Asia Pacific rose by 6.6% to 30.1Mt supported by a stabilisation of the Chinese economy with growth in March 2016. However, its sales revenue was affected by low prices. In Europe cement sales fell by 3.1% to 7.7Mt due to slowing construction growth in the UK despite improvements in France and Switzerland. In Latin America cement sales fell by 10.7% to 6Mt mainly due to problems in Brazil. In the group’s Middle East Africa region cement sales rose by 3.1% to 10.8Mt led by Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria. Finally, in North America sales of cement grew by 18.9% to 3.4Mt boosted by a ‘vigorous’ housing market.
“The first quarter is not indicative of our full year performance. We are on track with our plan and we see favourable underlying trends,” said chief executive officer Eric Olsen in a statement. The multinational construction materials producer intends to keep to its 2018 targets announced in November 2015. It will do this through holding down costs, continuing its Euro3.16bn divestment programme and increasing benefit from synergies following the merger of Lafarge and Holcim in 2015.
LafargeHolcim cement sales stay static in 2015
17 March 2016Switzerland: LafargeHolcim’s sales volumes of cement remained static at 255.7Mt in 2015, up by 0.2Mt compared to 255.2Mt in 2015. However, the group’s overall net sales across all businesses fell by 6.2% year-on-year to Euro26.8bn from Euro28.6bn. It described having faced challenging emerging markets in China and Brazil and that it plans to further cut costs to cope with this.
“In a challenging environment in selected markets, we have exceeded all our 2015 commitments in terms of CAPEX, synergies, and net debt reduction…. We have also made significant progress on our divestment plan, while accelerating the pace of integration across the group and cost management actions,” said Eric Olsen, the CEO of LafargeHolcim. He added that the group has taken action to cut costs particularly in ‘difficult’ markets. It expects to see demand in its markets grow by 2 – 4% in 2016.
For the fourth quarter of 2015, LafargeHocim reported that its sales volumes of cement rose by 4.8% year-on-year to 66.5Mt from 63.4Mt.Overall net sales fell by 5.9% to Euro6.78bn from Euro7.21bn. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 33% to Euro900m from Euro1.34bn. The group recorded a net loss of Euro2.61bn in the fourth quarter of 2015 including a Euro2.73bn charge due to asset impairment and other costs.
By region for the 2015 financial year, the group reported static sales volumes of cement of 123Mt in its Asia Pacific region driven by growth in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. Cement sales declined in Indian and China. Sales volumes fell by 4.7% to 42.1Mt in Europe led by a poor construction market in France despite growth in the UK and Romania. Sales volumes fell by 1.2% to 27.9Mt in Latin America mainly due to the economic situation in Brazil. Sales volumes grew by 1% to 43.4Mt in the Middle East Africa region as some countries in the region failed to cope with low oil and commodity prices. Sales volumes grew by 4.2% to 21.8Mt in North America propelled by the continued economic recovery in the US.
Beat Hess nominated as chairman of LafargeHolcim
10 February 2016Switzerland: The LafargeHolcim Board of Directors has decided to propose Beat Hess as its new Chairman to its shareholders. The decision follows the announcement that the current chairman, Wolfgang Reitzle, has informed the Board that he will not stand for re-election at the Company’s May 2016 Annual General Meeting.
Reitzle cited other business commitments for his decision, including the Chairmanship of the Linde Supervisory Board. He was a key part of the successful merger between Lafarge and Holcim in 2015.
Hess, a Swiss national born in 1949, is currently Vice-Chairman of the Board, a Member of the Strategy & Sustainable Development Committee and a Member of the Finance & Audit Committee. He was elected to the Board of Directors of then Holcim in 2010. From 1977 to 2003, he was legal counsel and later General Counsel of the ABB Group. From 2004 until the end of 2010, he was Legal Director and a member of the Executive Committee of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, London and The Hague. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Nestlé S.A. and of Sonova Holding AG.
LafargeHolcim appoints Caroline Hempstead as Head of Communication, Public Affairs and Sustainable Development
07 December 2015Switzerland: Caroline Hempstead has been appointed as Head of Communication, Public Affairs and Sustainable Development of LafargeHolcim, with effect from 1 December 2015, reporting to CEO Eric Olsen.
Since 2007, Caroline Hempstead has been responsible for the global Corporate Affairs team at pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, where she also chaired the Sustainability Council. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Caroline Hempstead spent 10 years in the oil industry at Royal Dutch Shell managing the reputation of Shell's global downstream businesses in over 100 countries. Caroline Hempstead has also held corporate affairs roles at Inchcape, the London Stock Exchange and Harrods. Caroline Hempstead is a British national and has a degree in French Studies from Manchester University.
Switzerland: In the first nine months of 2015, LafargeHolcim reported a fall in net sales, adjusted operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and cement sales volumes.
LafargeHolcim's net sales fell by 0.6% year-on-year on to Euro20.4bn at constant exchange rates and its adjusted operating (EBITDA) fell by 3.2% on a like-for-like basis to Euro4.02bn in the first nine months of 2015. In the third quarter of 2015, Latin America and Asia Pacific (excluding China and India) continued to see positive trends, while the Middle East and Africa experienced more difficult conditions. Overall net sales in the quarter fell by1.1% on a like-for-life basis to Euro7.22bn. Adjusted operating EBITDA was down by 8.9% on a like-for-like basis to Euro1.51.
Sales volumes in all product lines declined slightly in the first nine months of 2015 due to lower than expected demand in a number of markets impacted by an economic downturn, notably in Brazil and China, as well as a lack of infrastructure projects in India. In the third quarter of 2015, volume trends stabilised and countries such as Argentina, Mexico, the Philippines and the UK continued to perform well. In the US, where the market recovery is well under way, LafargeHolcim is increasing capacity through revamping and reopening plants. On a pro forma basis, consolidated cement volumes fell by 1.3% to 189Mt in the first nine months of 2015 as increased shipments in North America and Latin America were offset by declines in Europe and in China. Solid increases were, however, reported in many markets, including in Egypt, Mexico, Philippines, Canada and the US. In the third quarter of 2015, cement sales volumes grew by 0.2% year-on-year to 65.3Mt.
"In this quarter we kick-started the integration process to have the right organisational structure, action plans and people in place to ensure the success of the merger," said Eric Olsen, CEO of LafargeHolcim. "On 1 December 2015 we will present the new company's first three-year plan, including a clear roadmap on how we plan to achieve our new targets, one of which is a cumulative 2016 - 2018 free cash flow generation of at least Euro9.23bn. This plan will come into effect on 1 January 2016 and will become the benchmark against which we will measure LafargeHolcim's performance, including management incentive plans."
"The first nine months of 2015 and in particular the third quarter were impacted by the difficult economic context in some of our large markets and considerable negative foreign exchange fluctuations. In addition, the closing of the merger triggered both one-off costs and organisational changes, the benefits of which will start coming through in 2016. At the same time, we have also seen solid market trends that, combined with our commercial efforts, led to good performance in several countries such as Argentina, Mexico, the Philippines, the UK and the US. We have started laying solid foundations for the new company on which we will build the future success of LafargeHolcim. I am confident in our ability to deliver on the announced synergies and thanks to disciplined capital allocation and superior execution we will outperform our sector. We will maximise cash flow and create sustainable value with the focus on returning excess cash to shareholders while continuing to provide our customers with world-leading innovative products and solutions."
LafargeHolcim expects that the contrasted evolution of the global economy will continue. A number of markets including China, Brazil, France, India and Switzerland will remain challenging, others such as Argentina, Mexico, the Philippines, the UK and the US will likely see continuing positive trends. The group has estimated that cement volumes will be higher for 2015 in all regions except Europe.
According to Dow Jones, LafargeHolcim plans to raise Euro3.23bn in 2016 from selling off cement assets around the world. The company has started discussions with interested parties, including private-equity firms and industry rivals about some of the assets, with the proceeds set to be returned to shareholders through dividends or share buybacks, according to Olsen. "We have a position of number one, two or three in 70% of our markets," said Olsen. "Where we don't have that position, we are looking at divesting or swapping assets."