Displaying items by tag: Türkiye
Turkish authority probes price setting behaviour
12 June 2013Turkey: Turkey's Competition Authority said on 11 June 2013 that it had launched a probe into the local cement producers Çimsa Çimento and Oyak Adana Çimento on allegations of price setting.
The authority said that data gathered during a preliminary inquiry was sufficient to open an investigation into whether or not the two companies had violated competition regulations by setting prices for white cement.
Turkish financial reports
10 April 2013Turkey: Adana Çimento reported a total revenue 0.1% lower in the final quarter of 2012 than in the same period of 2011, taking US$41.4m. Its net profit, however, grew by over half year-on-year, rising by 50.2% to US$19.3m for the quarter.
Batisoke Soke Çimento saw its 2012 sales revenue fall by 4.5% to U$45.0m from US$45.2m in 2011.
Bursa Çimento's saw its net profit and revenue both fall in 2012. Its net profit dropped by 73.6% to US$6.7m on revenues that were 9.2% lower than in 2011 at US$274.2m.
Çimsa Çimento saw its revenue increase by 7.9% year-on-year in 2012 compared to 2011, taking US$487m over the year. However, the company saw its net profit fall by 6.5% year-on-year to US$64.5m in 2012.
Çimentas Izmir has reported a net profit of US$16.3m for 2012, 38.2% more than it earnt in 2011. The company has made a profit in four of the past five years. The company's sales revenue came in at US$333.7m for 2012, a 6.9% improvement on 2011 when it took US$297m in sales.
Mardin Çimento made a net profit of US$20.5m in 2012 after it saw its net profit slump by 56.4% compared to 2011. The company's total revenue was down by 19.7% to US$116m.
Unye Çimento's total revenue was down by 19.7% to US$116m in the fourth quarter of 2012, while its net profit for the quarter was 46.8% higher year-on-year at US$10.5m.
Turkey: Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding is discussing potential takeovers with several cement producers in countries near Turkey, according to reports from Bloomberg quoting the Turkish industrial group's president, Mehmet Gocmen. The planned acquisitions are part of the group's goal to double its capacity or at least increase it above 20Mt by the end of 2017. According to Gocmen, Sabancı has the financial strength to buy more than one company at a time.
At present, Sabancı has as much as 13Mt of combined cement production capacity at Çimsa Çimento Sanayi & Ticaret which it owns, and Akçansa Çimento the industrial holding's joint venture with HeidelbergCement. Akçansa and Çimsa seek growth through deals both in Turkey and abroad as Turkish regulations do not allow a single company to hold a slice larger than 25% of the domestic market.
Mixed results from Turkish producers in first half of 2012
24 October 2012Turkey: More Turkish cement manufacturers have released first half results for 2012, which continue the mixed trend seen from other producers.
Aslan Çimento saw a marginal decrease in its revenue, by 0.37% in the first half of 2012. It recorded total revenues of Euro29.5m for the half, making Euro3.0m in profit. In the second quarter of 2012 it Aslan had a revenue of Euro17.5m and profit of Euro2.9m.
Göltaş Göller Bölgesı Çimento saw total revenues of Euro67.5m in the first half of 2012, a 73.5% increase compared to the first half of 2011. Its net profit was also up, growing by 54.5 to Euro9.1m. Over the three months to 30 June 2012, the company had a total revenue of Euro50.3m, representing an increase of 85.4% compared to the second quarter of 2011. In the three month period it saw a net profit of Euro0.85m.
Konya Çimento's results showed a 256% year-on-year increase in its net profit, from a low base. It recorded a net profit of Euro6.83m compared to Euro1.92m in the same period of 2011. Konya's total revenue was up by 3.8% to Euro48.0m in the first half of 2012 compared to Euro46.5m in the first half of 2011.
Çimentas Izmir Çimento Fabrikasi saw its total revenue increase by 1.72% to Euro117.7m in the first half of 2012, recording a net profit of Euro2.8m. In the course of the second quarter of 2012, which ended on 30 June 2012, the company recorded a revenue of Euro72.5m, an increase of 5.6% year-on-year. It saw a quarterly net profit of Euro2.1m.
Invest like an Egyptian
12 September 2012Lawlessness, strike action and increases in energy inputs are the three factors hindering Turkish investment in Egypt.
These concerns arose in a meeting held last week between the Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Hatem Saleh and a Turkish trade delegation. It was also reported that Turkish investors have applied to build a cement plant in the Sinai region of Egypt.
Investing in Egypt by a cement company seems risky given that both Italcementi and Lafarge have shown problems in the country in their recent financial reports. Italcementi reported a loss in sales in its first half results for 2012 partly due to the Egyptian market. Lafarge saw volumes fall by 11% in its second quarter in Egypt due to limited gas supply.
Nationally cement demand fell by 8% in 2011 to 45.2Mt due to the political unrest of the 'Arab Spring'. In January 2012 the government cut energy subsidies to heavy industry, including cement, to narrow its budget deficit.
Lawlessness is certainly a concern. In August 2012 Suez Cement suspended construction of a plant expansion project amid civil unrest. It had also suffered from strikes at its plants earlier in the year. Earlier in the month Egypt launched air strikes in the Sinai region close to the border with Gaza killing 20 people. Previous to this a group of Chinese cement workers working in the Sinai were kidnapped in January 2012.
Yet Titan, despite its losses so far in 2012, reported in its first half results at the end of August 2012 that the construction sector maintained its positive momentum in the country. In addition, it said that demand for building materials grew absorbing production from new cement plants entering the market.
Recent developments supporting this optimistic trend have included Arabian Cement increasing its capacity to 5Mt/yr with the opening of its second production line. FLSmidth recently won a contract to operate and maintain two production lines for Egyptian National Cement. ASEC Cement expects full production of 1.9Mt/yr at Minya to begin by the first quarter of 2013.
With a mixed picture emerging, the cement industry in Egypt shows potential for those producers willing to take the risks, or those able to minimise them. Even at the proposal stage the new Turkish project in Sinai has been linked with the al-Maghara coal supplies of the northern Sinai.
Loesche supplies largest ever cement mill in Europe
27 June 2012Turkey: Nuryol Çimento has decided to use Loesche GmbH as the supplier of all mills for its new 4000t/day cement plant project in Karasu, around 150km east of Istanbul. Loesche will supply mills for coal grinding, cement raw material grinding and clinker grinding. The complete project execution and coordination will be done by Sintek Mining Machinery Industry Construction, which is based in Ankara.
Loesche will supply one Loesche mill type LM 46.4 to grind cement raw material at a rate of 330t/hr to a fineness of 12% R90u and a Loesche mill type LM 28.2 D to grind coal. The design capacity of the coal mill is 30t/hr, to a fineness of 3% R90u.
For cement grinding Nuryol has purchased a Loesche mill type LM 63.3+3, including process filter and fan. The mill is designed to grind OPC cement with a capacity of 240t/hr to a fineness of 3800cm2/g according to Blaine. This Loesche mill represents the largest vertical roller mill for cement grinding in Turkey as well as in the whole of Europe. It will have a table diameter of 6.3m and will be driven by a motor with a rated capacity of 7200kW.
Loesche's innovative Compact Plant design for cement grinding plants was an important factor that Nuryol says led it to choose a Loesche vertical roller mill for cement grinding. Compact Plant design eliminates the need for a large and expensive mill building, leading to massive savings in the required plant plot, in cost for structural steelworks and civil works as well as in erection time.
Turkish companies report on 2011
12 June 2012Turkey: Four Turkish cement producers have released annual financial results for the 2011 calendar year. Bolu Cement saw its total revenue increase by 22.2% to Euro79.7m and a net profit increase of 44.7% to Euro8.8m, ensuring profits in each of the last three years.
Meanwhile, Adana Cement saw a total revenue of Euro144.7m in 2011, up by 6.7% year-on-year. It extended its profit run to four consecutive years, although this slumped by nearly a quarter to Euro33.7m.
Cimsa Cimento saw a fifth consecutive year of strong results, with revenue and net profit both up. Revenue hit Euro352m, up 12% year-on-year and net profit was up by 19% to Euro54m.
Baticim Bati Anadolu Cimento also saw an increase in its revenue, a 10.6% increase to Euro158.4m and a near-70% increase in net profit, which rose to Euro11.1m from a low base.
Turkish exports
21 March 2012Reporting the annual results for Turkish cement producer Adana Çimento opened up an issue familiar from many of the international big players' annual reports last year: currency fluctuations.
The conversion rate between the US dollar and the Turkish lira rose from US$1 to Turkish lire 1.55 at the end of 2010 to US$1 to Turkish lira 1.89 at the end of 2011. This created the alarming situation where the company's annual sales rose by 3% from 2010 to 2011 if you measured it in Turkish lira, but fell by 15% if you measured it in US dollars!
Great news for currency speculators playing with so-called 'hot money' but not so great for manufacturers seeking stable trading conditions. As for the company's shareholders, if they are paid their dividend in Turkish lira then it's the value of the lira that is important. If the shareholders have to change Turkish lira into their own 'foreign' currency in order to spend it (or keep it in the bank), into dollars for example, then that's when they could lose out.
This is particularly bad news for a country like Turkey with its strong export market. Although looking at the nation's top export destinations in 2010 reveals a roll call of instability, including Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt. Regardless of the price, these countries are going to need cement when the dust settles from ongoing political turmoil, something we also cover in another story this week with reports of striking at Egyptian plants. Cement isn't likely to be coming from Saudi Arabia though, which we see is enjoying demand driven by government-funded construction projects.
Elsewhere this week we have stories on the impact of the Indian Budget on the cement industry, yet more Dangote projects in Cameroon and Liberia and promising signs from Taiheiyo in Japan.
Adana Çimento profit down US$40.8m in 2011
21 March 2012Turkey: Cement producer Adana Çimento has reported that its profit after tax fell by 25% to US$42m in 2011 from US$56m in 2010.
Sales revenue rose by 2% to US$173m in 2011 from US$169m in 2010. Total revenue rose by 6% to US$182 from US$171m. Adana Çimento has recorded profit for the last three years. Notably, the exchange rate between the Turkish Lire and the US Dollar has risen by 22%, to 1.89 per dollar in 2011 from 1.55 in 2010.
Italcementi exits Turkey
16 February 2012Turkey: Italcementi has announced that it has reached an agreement to sell 51% of its Afyon Turkish unit to Cimsa Cimento Sanayi ve Ticaret AS for Euro25m. The stake and the payment will be done at the closing of the operation, which has to be cleared by antitrust authorities. With the closing of this deal, and following the 2011 divestment of Set Group, Italcementi will be left without any presence on the Turkish market as a cement producer.