24 February 2017
Conveyor fire breaks out at LafargeHolcim Hagerstown cement plant 24 February 2017
US: A fire has been reported at LafargeHolcim’s Hagerstown cement plant in Maryland. An overloaded conveyor belt was the source of the blaze near the centre of the site that broke out on the evening of 20 February 2017, according to the Herald-Mail newspaper. High temperatures prevented fire fighters from tacking the fire immediately and it burned for over an hour.
Oman Cement boosts its profit by 10% to US$33.4m in 2016 24 February 2017
Oman: Oman Cement’s profit has risen by 10% year-on-year to US$33.4m in 2016 from US$30.4m in 2015. Its sales revenue grew by 8.5% to US$147m from US$135m and its sales volumes of cement grew by 10.6% to 2.30Mt from 2.01Mt, according to the Muscat Daily newspaper. It attributed the increased profit to higher turnover and higher investment income. However, its operational costs rose due to a shutdown of its kiln for a longer period than expected.
ARM Cement to increase grinding capacity in Kenya by early 2018 24 February 2017
Kenya: ARM Cement plans to increase its grinding capacity by 50% at its 1Mt/yr cement plant at Athi River. Pradeep Paunrana, the managing director of ARM Cement, made the comments in an interview reported on by Reuters. The new grinding capacity will use clinker from the company’s plant at Tanga in Tanzania. The upgrade plans follow an equity deal in late 2016 with the CDC Group to secure US$140m in funding. However, most of this money has been used to pay off debts.
Paunrana noted that cement demand in the East African region is expected to rise at 8 – 10%/yr. The cement producer is preparing to build a new cement plant at Kitui in Kenya but it wants to increase its capacity utilisation rate from its plant in Tanzania first.
Malaysia: Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad’s (CMS) cement division’s operating profit rose by 2% year-on-year to US$23.6m in 2016 from US$23.2m in 2015. However, its sales revenue fell by 6% to US$127m from US$135m. The group blamed its falling sales on ‘challenging’ market conditions. Overall the group’s sales revenue and profit fell in 2016.
“2016 was a challenging period for us in terms of group performance meeting targets as we had faced challenging market and operational conditions. These macro factors included low commodity selling prices, higher costs of raw materials in the Cement Division resulting from the strong US dollar, and generally the sluggish private and public sector demand attributable to bank lending restraints and the lack of any new big projects. Our group’s core businesses, however, remained resilient during this period and continued to report stable earnings,” said Richard Curtis, Group Managing Director of CMSB.
Adelaide Brighton’s costs hit by blackouts 24 February 2017
Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s financial results have been hit by disruptions to electricity supplies in South Australia. Closure of generation capacity in the region, a temporary closure of an interconnection in July 2016 and bad weather that led to disrupted supplies in September 2016 all caused higher electricity and gas prices, production loses at several plants and reduced sales to customers, whose own facilities were also suspended. The company’s profit after tax fell by 10.4% year-on-year to US$143m in 2016 from US$160m in 2015. Its sales revenue decreased by 1.2% to US$1.07bn from US$1.09bn. It blamed the decline on reduced cement demand in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Overall cement and clinker sales volumes fell by 4% in 2016 but this was mitigated by higher sales in New South Wales, Victoria and south-east Queensland. Low sales volumes, higher energy costs and import costs also hit cement margins. The cement producer expects volumes to improve in 2017.