September 2024
China: The Vice minister of Industry and Information Technology, Xin Guobin, recently led a delegation to investigate excessive cement capacity in north-east China. Xin urged local governments, industry associations and key enterprises to work together, further reduce excessive capacity and try to reverse losses in the cement industry in the region.
Companies including Yatai Cement, Liaoning Daying Cement Group, Inner Mongolia Mengxi Cement Co., Ltd, Sunnsy Cement and China Tianrui Group Cement Company Ltd have all set up cement clinker production lines in north-east China.
WTW & MHC Group celebrate multiple milestone anniversaries 11 December 2015
Germany/Poland: MHC Engineering Fördertechnik GmbH in Cologne, Germany celebrated the 10th company anniversary in November 2015. Its sister company WTW Engineering MiUP Sp.z o.o in Wroclaw, Poland has also celebrated its 20th company anniversary recently.
MHC Egineering Fördertechnik GmbH was founded in 2005 and immediately made an impact by acquiring WTW Engineering MiUP Sp. Z.o.o. located in Poland, as well as WTW Americas Inc. located in Canada.
The three companies together form the WTW & MHC Group, a prominent supplier of: silo and bunker discharge technology for all bulk materials, discharge capacities and silo diameters; complete turnkey systems or individual components for the reception, storage, discharge and transport of alternative fuels; materials handling in general; laboratory testing of bulk materials.
"We are not so much interested in short-term and quick profits but in long-term trusting and cooperative relationships with our clients," said managing director Marek Lewicki. "Our success, even through the highs and lows of the material handling market due to fluctuations in the world economy, is confirmed every day by our loyal clients in the cement, power and metallurgical industries," Added managing director Aaron Reid.
Egypt: Misr Beni Suef Cement has started to produce sulphate resistant cement for use in tunnels and other special projects. The cement producer is aiming to boost sales by selling 200,000t of this new product in 2016, in addition to sales of ordinary Portland cement.
Beumer celebrates 80 years of business 11 December 2015
Germany: Beumer Group celebrated its 80th anniversary on 9 December 2015. The conveying, loading, palletising, packaging, sortation and distribution manufacturer was originally founded by Bernhard Beumer on 9 December 1935 with four employees. In 2014 Beumer Group reported a turnover of Euro680m and today it has around 4100 employees.
"The success is primarily due to the familial spirit. We have consistently held to our motto 'We are looking for the long-term success, and not for the short-term profit'," said Christoph Beumer, Chairman and CEO of Beumer Group. Beumer is the third generation of his family to manage the business and he has held the post since 2000. Beumer attributes the long-term success of the company to manageable growth, a large range of products and a global market presence. Beumer machines and systems are in use all around the world.
Conveying technology formed the foundation of Beumer Group's business when Bernhard Beumer started the company in 1935. His eldest son, also named Bernhard Beumer, took over the company in 1981 and promoted the development of bucket elevators leading to the company belt bucket elevators. By the mid-1980s, the supplier had installed about 100 systems altogether, in 2007 and 2008 there were about 450 installed per year. Besides the product development in the field of conveying technology, Bernhard Beumer Jr. also continued the initial development of loading systems and steered Beumer's international growth with the foundation of companies in Brazil, the USA and Asia.
In the 1960s, Beumer laid the foundation for curved belt conveying systems. The first theoretical designs on the market were from the company's Department for Research and Development. Today this group is one of the technological leaders for these systems, either as troughed belt conveyors with open design or as Pipe Conveyors. In the field of loading technology, Bernhard Beumer Jr. developed new products, such as the three-dimensional loading machine for loading cement bags onto trucks. In the 1970s, the engineers further developed this machine until it became completely automated. The stationary palletiser is a result of this development.
Beumer took over the Danish sortation technology specialist Crisplant in 2009, followed later by companies in India, the US and Belgium. It acquired Enexco Technologies in India, a manufacturer of grinding systems and packaging machines for the cement industry, in 2011.
"I view the company as a little jewel case," said Beumer when speaking of the company history. "When my grandfather founded it, it was no more than a little wooden box. He added some velvet lining to it and then handed it over to the second generation, my father, who added some more and embellished it further."
India: The Competition Appellate Tribunal has set aside a US$945m penalty imposed on 11 cement firms by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on accusations of cartel behaviour and asked the fair trade regulator to resubmit the case. The Tribunal also allowed the cement manufacturers to withdraw the 10% penalty amount already deposited with the CCI, according to the Press Trust of India.
The judgement follows appeals filed by the cement firms and their industry body, the Cement Manufacturers Association, against the two CCI orders passed in June - July 2012. The cement companies included ACC, Ambuja Cements, Binani Cements, Century Textiles Ltd, India Cements, JK Cements, Lafarge India, Madras Cements, Ultratech, JP Associates and Shree Cements.
The CCI had passed the orders after an investigation into complaints, including from Builders Association of India (BAI), against alleged price collaboration between cement firms.
The orders were later challenged at the Competition Appellate Tribunal, which ordered that 'the impugned order is set aside and the matter is remitted to the CCI for fresh adjudication of the issues relating to alleged violation" of the relevant sections of the Competition Act.'
Lhoist mothballs Thrislington lime plant 11 December 2015
UK: Lhoist has announced that its Thrislington lime plant in the north of England will be mothballed. The decision came on the back of the recent closure of steel manufacturing facilities in the UK, to which the Thrislington plant supplied the vast majority of its dolomitic lime. A total of 40 staff will now commence a collective consultation process with management via union and employee representatives.
"Unfortunately demand for dolomitic lime from our Thrislington plant has drastically reduced, since the closure of steel manufacturing plants in this region," said Cedric de Vicq, Managing Director of Lhoist UK. "We are looking at opportunities to retain staff where possible."
Qalaa Holdings’ net loss rose to US$16m in the third quarter of 2015 10 December 2015
Egypt: Qalaa Holdings' revenue grew by 19% year-on-year to US$262m in the third quarter of 2015. In the first nine months of 2015, its revenue rose by 31% to US$777m. The growth was attributed to ASEC Cement and energy distribution business TAQA Arabia. ASEC Holding saw its top line grow by 30% to US$299m.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the third quarter of 2015 fell by 9% to US$27.4m. The decrease comes on the back of several factors; Qalaa's exit from Misr Cement Qena, which had been positively contributing to EBITDA; the third quarter of 2015 having two Eid Holidays (Eid El Fitr and Eid El Adha) leading to less working days; and Sudan's Al-Takamol facing temporary fuel shortages during the third quarter of 2015. These factors affected cement revenues and EBITDA. In the first nine months of 2015, Qalaa's EBITDA grew by 71% to US$99.5m.
Qalaa has continued to press forward with its strategy of divesting non-core investments, with several exits concluded during the first nine months of 2015 and more recently in the fourth quarter of 2015. In the second quarter of 2015, Qalaa concluded the sale of its 27.5% stake in Misr Cement Qena, while in the fourth quarter of 2015, the company further reduced its exposure to the cement industry with its business unit ASEC Cement divesting its stakes in subsidiaries ASEC Minya Cement and ASEC Ready Mix.
"We are pressing ahead with plans to divest assets that will allow us to deleverage and devote maximum attention to high-growth businesses in sectors that are vital to the development of our region such as refining, energy distribution and transportation and logistics," said Qalaa Holdings Chairman and Founder Ahmed Heikal. "We remain firmly committed to growing our investments in ERC, Egypt's largest in-progress private-sector megaproject due to begin production in 2017, and TAQA Arabia, which is pursuing exciting new opportunities in gas distribution, electricity generation and renewable energy. In parallel, we are also looking for opportunities to unlock shareholder value at subsidiaries, including ASCOM and Rift Valley Railways, which have strong growth outlooks."
"The sale of ASEC Cement's Egyptian assets alongside other transactions will fundamentally re-shape Qalaa's financials, giving more weight on both our income statement and balance sheet to ongoing operations at our energy and mining units and setting the stage for the transformative impact of ERC," said Qalaa Holdings Co-Founder and Managing Director Hisham El-Khazindar. "The near-full impact of the substantial deleveraging that accompanies these transactions will be felt in our fourth quarter 2015 and first quarter 2016 financials."
The company reported a net loss after tax and minority interest of US$16m in the third quarter of 2015, a two-fold increase compared to the net loss of US$7.59m in the same period of 2014. On a nine month basis, however, bottom-line losses narrowed by 31% to US$41.2m compared to US$60m in the same period of 2014
Wastecycle expands site and takes on 20% more staff 10 December 2015
UK: Wastecycle's recycling facility in Colwick, Nottinghamshire is now one of the largest in the UK after an expansion of the site. By acquiring seven acres of property, which the company previously leased, and buying an additional four acres, Wastecycle has extended its site to nearly 20 acres.
"It's an exciting time for us because this expansion provides us with the platform we need to reach the next stage of growth as a company," said Financial Director Nathan Cole. "Over the long term, we plan to use the additional land to expand our extensive recycling and resource management activities. This will help us broaden the services we offer our customers while improving the quality and sustainability of the recycled products we manufacture."
The company has also completed an expansion of its main office to accommodate its growing workforce. After a 20% growth in staff 2015, it now employs almost 300 people across its Colwick site and its two sites in Leicestershire. "Ensuring our teams are comfortable in their working environments is very important to us because, not only does it increase productivity, but it also creates positive morale," said Cole. "Larger premises also provide the opportunity to open up new jobs, while improving the quality of service we can provide to customers."
Wastecycle separates 500,000t/yr of waste, including 18,000t/yr of recycling from 126,131 homes in the Nottingham City Council area. Some of the waste is turned into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for use at cement plants. It also sorts through the rubbish of thousands of businesses across Nottinghamshire, runs a skip hire service and operates a wallboard recycling facility, which it developed with British Gypsum.
In 2014, Wastecycle's turnover increased to Euro42.8m from Euro35.9m in 2013. In 2015, it won four awards, including a bronze environmental best practice accolade at the Green Apple Awards in November 2015. It was recognised for the success of its wallboard recycling scheme, which has prevented more than 30,000t/yr of wallboard from reaching landfill.
Ambuja Cements appoints Suresh Joshi as CFO 10 December 2015
India: Ambuja Cements, part of LafargeHolcim, has appointed Suresh Joshi as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with effect from February 2016. This followed the resignation of Ambuja Cements' former CFO Sanjeev Churiwala in October 2015.
In addition, Christof Haessig was appointed as an Additional Director (Non independent - representing the Promoter Group) on the Board of Directors with effect from 9 December 2015. Haessig, at present, is the Head of Corporate Strategy and Mergers and Acquisitions at LafargeHolcim.
Ambuja Cements reported a 36% decline in its standalone net profit to US$23m for the quarter that ended on 30 September 2015, compared to a net profit of US$35.8m in the same period of 2014. Its total standalone income fell by 4% to US$316m in the July - September 2015 quarter compared to US$330m in the same quarter of 2014.
The Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) has announced its aim to reduce CO2 emissions by clinker producers by 20 - 25% by 2030. It made the announcement as part of a new action plan launched on 8 December 2015 at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21).
Most of the plan follows the CSI's existing aims announced to chime with the on-going COP21 negotiations. The plan depends on a long-term agreement being brokered successfully in Paris at COP21 as a whole. It then recommends policy in each of its key areas to achieve its goals. All of this sits beneath a general policy statement to, '...encourage policies for predictable, objective, level-playing and stable CO2 constraints and incentives as well as energy frameworks on an international level.'
The Cement Action Plan is part of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development Low Carbon Technology Partnerships initiative (LCTPi). It puts together a series of measures to aspire to reduce CO2 emissions by 1Gt by 2030 compared to business as usual. However this reduction is dependent on the entire cement industry getting involved, not just the existing 26 CSI members. Together these 26 members represent just a quarter of world cement production.
The drop in emissions is based on the so-called 'best-in-class' CSI company 2020 targets. To reach this the CSI is suggesting actions including focusing on recording Chinese cement industry emissions and energy usage, improving energy efficiency, promoting co-processing of alternative fuels, further lowering the clinker factor of cements, developing new low-energy and low-carbon cements, looking at the entire build chain to reduce emissions and considering other options such as carbon capture and storage. The plan had the support of the CEOs of 16 cement companies at its launch, with CNBM CEO Song Zhiping adding his assent at the event also.
The most prominent step is the clear focus on China for data capture using existing CSI tools such as the CO2 and Energy Accounting and Reporting Standard for the Cement Industry, the Getting the Numbers Right (GNR) and the Cement Technology Roadmaps. As the CSI puts it, "What gets measured gets managed."
Given that China produces around 60% of the world's cement, according to United States Geological Survey data, the focus on China is essential. Currently the CSI has six Chinese members: CNBM, Sinoma, China Resources, Tianrui Group, West China Cement and Yati Group. Notable exceptions to CSI membership from the world's biggest cement producers include the Chinese producers Anhui Conch and Taiwan Cement, as well as Russia's Eurocement and India's Aditya Birla Group.
So, the CSI has set out its stall ahead of a hoped-for global agreement on climate change at the Paris conference. If some sort of legal agreement is reached then the CSI has its recommendations ready in the wings to hand to policymakers everywhere to promote its aims. If no agreement is reached then the plan loses momentum although pushing forwards makes sense where possible, starting with better CO2 data reported especially in China.
Problems lie ahead for the CSI whatever happens in Paris given that the LCTPi Cement Action Plan is a series of policy suggestions from only 16 cement producers aiming for a non-binding target. For example, without some sort of world legal agreement there are clear commercial advantages for non-CSI members to burn cheap fossil fuels in their kilns and undercut their more environmentally pious rivals. The sustaining low cost of oil, dipping below US$40/barrel this week, can only aggravate this situation and distract the strategies of fuel buyers away from co-processing upgrades.