31 July 2019

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim’s divestments in Southeast Asia have coincided with a positive first half to 2019. Its net sales rose by 3.5% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis to Euro11.8bn in the first half of 2019 from Euro12bn in the same period in 2018. Its recurring earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 7.2% in real-terms to Euro2.41bn from Euro2.25bn. Its cement sales volumes rose slightly by 0.7% on a like-for-like basis to 104Mt and sales of ready-mixed concrete decreased by 2% to 23.6Mm³.

“We have achieved a strong first half of the year and successfully continued our profitable growth strategy. All business segments have contributed to this success and to the continued over-proportional growth in profitability,” said Jan Jenisch, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company. The group attributed the growth to ‘successful’ pricing and growing cement volumes.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement’s sale revenue fell by 3% year-on-year to US$1.30bn in the first half of 2019 from US$1.34bn in the same period in 2018. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 11.4% to US$605m from US$683m. Cement sales volumes decreased slightly to 12.3Mt. Revenue, earnings and sales volumes all fell in Nigeria but only earnings fell for its operations outside of the country.

“Group sales volumes were only slightly down on last year and this was a solid performance against the impact of delayed elections and increased competition from new capacity in Nigeria, as well as operational and economic challenges in key territories such as Ethiopia and South Africa. However, we saw a stronger performance from Tanzania, which is now running on gas turbines, and also from Senegal, where our sales volumes are more than 100% of our rated capacity,” said Joe Makoju, the group chief executive officer of Dangote Cement.

Indonesia: Semen Indonesia’s revenue grew by 23% year-on-year to US$1.17bn in the first half of 2019 from US$0.95bn in the same period in 2018. Its net profit halved to US$34.3m from US468.8m. Its domestic sales volumes of cement fell by 7.17% to 7.78Mt in the first five months of 2019 from 10.54Mt in the same period in 2018. Exports rose by 7.42% to 1.38Mt from 1.28Mt. Both local sales and exports fell at its Thang Long Cement subsidiary in Vietnam. However, its acquisition of Holcim Philippines in February 2019 has boosted its overall sales by 17% to 15.2Mt.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton says that it expects its net profit, after tax excluding property, to be no higher than US$90m in 2019. This is a further reduction on the forecast of around US$110m it made in May 2019. It has blamed poor residential and civil construction markets, continued competition in Queensland and South Australia, growing raw material costs and fees related to a cancelled import order.

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement’s sales revenue rose by 37% year-on-year to US$165m in the first half of 2019 from US$121m in the same period in 2018. Its net profit after Zakat and tax grew by 53% to US$56.3m from US$36.8m.

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Cement’s sales revenue rose by 26% year-on-year to US$194m in the first half of 2019 from US$154m in the same period in 2018. Its net profit after Zakat and tax grew by 12% to US$59.9m from US$53.4m.

Vietnam: Kien Giang province has granted an investment licence to Siam City Cement Vietnam for a limestone and clay mining project and a clinker kiln project in Kien Luong district. Both projects have a combined investment of around US$470m, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. The subsidiary of Thailand’s Siam City Cement Group operates five plants in the country following its acquisition of Holcim Vietnam in 2017.

UK: Cemex has invested around Euro1m on relocating and upgrading its Eversley ready-mixed concrete plant. The new plant will be located at the Bramshill Quarry in Hampshire reducing the need for truck journeys to the fomer site nearby. The unit is being replaced with a Liebherr 2.25 mobile mix plant. The plant will have a storage capacity of 300t of cement, and 240t of aggregates. It will increase production from 80m³/hr to 24m³/hr. The inclusion of a central mixer will also enable special products such as traditional sand cement screed and flowing screeds like Supaflo to be produced, increasing the product range available.