September 2024
Suez Cement’s consolidated profit falls to US$15.2m 22 July 2015
Egypt: Suez Cement's consolidated net profit fell to US$15.2m in the first half of 2015 compared to US$39.9m in the same period of 2014, according to Arab Finance. Its standalone net profit fell to US$44.6m from US$53.2m in the 2014 period.
TCL to be delisted from three stock exchanges 22 July 2015
Trinidad and Tobago: Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) will delist from the Barbados Stock Exchange (BSE), the Guyana Association of Securities Companies and the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange. TCL chairman Wilfred Espinet made the announcement on 20 July 2015 at the company's annual general meeting (AGM).
Before asking the AGM for approval to delist the company, Espinet said little or no trading of the company's shares takes place on those exchanges, yet the company still incurs listing costs. TCL remains listed on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE) and the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
TCL's revenue rose by 11% year-on-year and its cement sales grew by 8% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2015. According to its interim consolidated financial results for the six months that ended on 30 June 2015, the company made a US$573m profit.
At the AGM, new TCL CEO Jose Luis Seijo shared his plans for the company and refuted statements that TCL 'Would not make it.' He said that most difficult part of restructuring the company was now behind it. TCL completed its debt restructuring in May 2015, after the company missed its debt service payments in September 2014. Debt restructuring included an 11% debt prepayment discount and a US$15m cash prepayment, which reduced the company's outstanding debt to US$245m in May 2015 from about US$292m at the end of 2014.
"How are we planning to repay the loan? By working very hard," said Seijo. The CEO said that he was focusing on the basics of increasing revenue, reducing costs and strengthening the company's financial position. TCL will also expand beyond cement manufacturing to offer, oil well cement, concrete roads, social housing solutions and synergies with customers. Seijo said that he wants to bring efficiencies to the highest level. "We have been underperforming for the longest time." He added that he sees TCL pushing for alternative fuels and being very disciplined controlling costs.
Re-elected to the new TCL board during the AGM were chairman Espinet, Christopher Dehring, Nigel Edwards and Francisco Aguilera. New directors elected were former senate president Timothy Hamel-Smith, Ruben McSween, Jose Bavaro and Bryan Ramsumair.
Aggregate Industries names Joe Hudson as managing director of cement and concrete products 22 July 2015
UK: Aggregate Industries' new cement division will be led by Joe Hudson as managing director of cement and concrete products. He joins Aggregate Industries from Lafarge, where he has worked in a number of key functional and operational roles since 2001. Hudson was heavily involved in preparations for the LafargeHolcim merger as group senior vice president for organisation and development at Lafarge and has experience of running a cement business, having previously worked as managing director / CEO for Lafarge Wapco Plc in Nigeria.
US: Construction materials company Summit Materials has completed its previously announced acquisition of a 1.2Mt/yr capacity cement plant in Davenport, Iowa along with seven cement distribution terminals from Lafarge North America for US$450m in cash, plus an exchange of Summit's Bettendorf, Iowa cement distribution terminal.
The newly acquired cement operations will compliment Summit's existing cement plant in Hannibal, Missouri and cement distribution terminal in St Louis, Missouri. The combined business will operate as Continental Cement, an existing wholly-owned subsidiary of Summit.
Following completion of the transaction, Summit owns 2.4Mt/yr of cement production capacity across the two cement plants plus eight cement distribution terminals along the Mississippi River system ranging from Minneapolis, Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana.
CRH submits bid for LafargeHolcim’s Indian assets 21 July 2015
India: CRH has reportedly submitted a binding bid for the Indian assets of the newly formed LafargeHolcim, according to the Irish Examiner.
CRH is already paying Euro6.5bn for certain assets in the Americas, Europe and Asia that needed to be offloaded to enable the LafargeHolcim merger. The transaction, which will make CRH the third-largest building materials business in the world, is set to formally conclude by the end of July 2015, although it will take slightly longer to finalise the takeover of the Asian assets.
HeidelbergCement and Barings Private Equity (Asia) have also reportedly submitted bids for LafargeHolcim assets in India. The reports have suggested a price of US$600 - 800m for the Indian assets, which include Lafarge's Sonadih cement plant and the Jojobera grinding station in the east of the country.
UltraTech Cement profit falls by 6% 21 July 2015
India: UltraTech Cement has reported a 6% fall in its consolidated net profit to US$92.9m for the first quarter of its 2015 – 2016 fiscal year, which ended on 30 June 2015. The Aditya Birla Group company had posted net profit of US$98.8m in the same period of 2014. Its consolidated net sales rose by 6% year-on-year to US$1bn from US$942m in the same quarter of 2014. Cement and clinker sales rose to 12.1Mt from 11.7Mt in the same period of 2014.
"Energy costs improved by 7%. The reduction in fuel prices was partially offset by the increase in railway freight. Input prices remained stable, except for the rise in royalty for limestone and levies under the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) (MMDR) Amendment Act 2015," said UltraTech Cement in a statement.
New Zealand: The third-largest lime producer in the world, US-based Graymont, has bought the Makareao lime plant in Otago from Holcim and took over the facility on 1 July 2015. Graymont, which has extensive interests in Canada, the US and Mexico, has also bought the McDonald's lime plant at Te Kuiti, Waikato, New Zealand.
Graymont Makareao's operations manager Craig Porter said that the lime plants' output had grown over the last two or three years and that he was excited about the new ownership. Staffing at the plant will not be affected.
Holcim's Weston cement plant project was put on hold in 2013 after it decided to import cement into New Zealand and build two new terminals, including one at Timaru, about four months from the completion of the plant. Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said that Holcim still owns the Weston site, associated quarries for limestone, coal and sand and consent for the cement plant that could be established there.
Ramadoss alleges Amma cement scam 20 July 2015
India: PMK founder S Ramadoss has rebuked the Tamil Nadu government over its recent statement that Tamil Nadu Cements Corporation has sold 10m bags of Amma cement, benefiting 133,000 families, according to the Times of India.
Amma cement has been sold through 470 warehouses or godowns in Tamil Nadu from 10 January 2015. "Jayalalithaa Jayaram (chief minister of Tamil Nadu) announced that 200,000/month of cement is being procured from private cement manufacturers and sold through government godowns for US$2.99/bag. As per this announcement, the government should have procured 1.25Mt or 25m bags of cement. Since the prices of Amma cement are low, they should have sold like hot cakes," said Ramadoss. He added that the government statement means that only 40% of the procured cement has been sold so far.
Ramadoss alleged that those who approach the government cement godowns to purchase Amma cement are often driven away. "Tokens are issued for those who want to purchase Amma cement and about 100,000 people who got tokens are awaiting supply. If the Tamil Nadu government actually procured 200,000t/month then all those who applied for cement should have been served," said Ramadoss. He said that the only reason for this not to have happened was either that the amount of cement claimed by the government was not procured, or the procured cement was sold to the black market.
Ramadoss has demanded that the government of Tamil Nadu publish a white paper on the total amount of cement procured, the amount of cement sold and measures taken to ensure seamless supply of cement.
Shiva Cement's cement dispatches up by 16% 20 July 2015
India: Shiva Cement's dispatches of cement and clinker in the April – June 2015 quarter rose by 16% year-on-year, according to MoneyControl.
LafargeHolcim won’t sell additional assets 20 July 2015
World: LafargeHolcim will not sell any additional assets, except for those that were negotiated with the European Commission (EC) in order to approve their merger, according to French Collection. The combined group hopes to complete its overall integration by the end of 2016.