September 2024
SCG to open Myanmar showroom 23 March 2015
Myanmar: Siam Cement Group (SCG) will open its first showroom in Yangon, Myanmar in May 2015, according to country director Chana Poomee. It will showcase products to customers and partners. "SCG is committed to enhance the expertise of the dealer network and empower them for long-term competitiveness," said Poomee. SCG is currently expanding into Myanmar with the construction of a cement plant in Mawlamyine, Mon, which is expected to open in 2016.
Dangote to build world’s biggest oil refinery 23 March 2015
Nigeria: Aliko Dangote, president of Nigeria's largest cement producer Dangote Group, has announced that he is increasing his refinery's capacity to 650,000b/day. The move, according to petroleum industry analysts, will see Nigeria listed as having the largest petroleum refinery in the world.
Dangote said that the initial plan was to have 450,000b/day refining capacity, but that he has since opted for a bigger plant because he believes that Nigeria, as a leading producer of crude oil, should also be credited with local refining capacity. Currently, Nigeria produces crude oil, but has to buy refined products from abroad. Dangote Group executive director Devakumar Edwin said that the Dangote refinery was ready to reverse the trend. The refiner is expected to be fully operational by 2017.
Eurocement-Ukraine reports Euro10m loss in 2014 23 March 2015
Ukraine: Balakleya-based Eurocement-Ukraine has reported a loss of Euro10.4m for 2014, following a Euro848,334 loss in 2013.
Hetauda Cement's accumulated loss soars to US$6.42m 23 March 2015
Nepal: State-owned Hetauda Cement Industries Ltd (HCIL) has reported an accumulated loss of US$6.42m at the end of its 2014 financial year.
"We faced a loss of US$692,829 in 2011 - 2012 and US$95,251 in 2012 - 2013. Our annual loss increased to US$6.42m in 2013 - 2014," said Ramesh Shiwakoti, chief accountant of HCIL. "HCIL is facing a loss as we are focused on providing quality products, unlike privately-owned cement producers whose major thrust is on making profit."
HCIL pays its workers around US$251/month, while privately-owned cement plants reportedly pay around US$150/month. Although a HCIL spokesperson said that the company's loss can be partly attributed to its high wages, the workers said that the plants is making a loss due to lack of transparency and increasing political interference.
LafargeHolcim merger back on track after revised terms 20 March 2015
Europe: Lafarge and Holcim have agreed to new financial terms and leadership to save their merger plan after it came to the verge of collapsing. The deal is now expected to close in July 2015 and not June 2015 as previously expected.
The two agreed a new share-swap ratio of nine Holcim shares for each 10 of Lafarge and for Lafarge chief executive Bruno Lafont to become co-chairman instead of chief executive of the combined group as originally planned. Lafont's role was a major sticking point for Holcim, which threatened to abandon the deal if the terms were not renegotiated. Holcim questioned his ability to deliver the Euro1.4bn in promised cost savings from the deal and disliked his brash management style.
"My attitude since 15 March 2015 has been to show that men should not prevent this merger from going through and on the contrary should do everything to make it possible," said Lafont. Under the revised deal, Lafont will be co-chairman along with Holcim's chairman Wolfgang Reitzle. Lafont will propose a new CEO in the coming weeks, who will have to be accepted by Holcim's board. "This adjustment maximises the deal's chances of success," said Lafont, adding he was satisfied with the new terms and insisting that the deal was still a 'merger of equals.'
The new share-swap ratio means Holcim shareholders would own 55.6% of LafargeHolcim compared to 53% previously. The companies said that certain key shareholders of Lafarge and Holcim had confirmed their support for the revised merger terms. Nassef Sawiris, who owns 16% of Lafarge, said that he backed the deal and was not worried about Holcim shareholders not voting for it. In recent weeks, some Holcim shareholders pushed openly for changes to the deal because they saw it as a too favourable to Lafarge and argued that Holcim would be better off alone. In part to placate them, LafargeHolcim will pay a scrip dividend of one new LafargeHolcim share for each 20 existing shares after completion.
Twiga Cement’s profit soars by 50% 20 March 2015
Tanzania: Tanzania Portland Cement Company's (Twiga) net profit grew by almost 50% in 2014 thanks to its strengthened brand image through quality and service delivery to the market.
Twiga announced a profit increase of 47.3% to US$29.8m for 2014, up from US$20.2m in 2013. Twiga Cement chairman Jean-Marc Junon said that the country's 7% GDP growth in 2014 helped to boost cement consumption significantly. "The increase in revenue, coupled with efficient cost management, resulted in an increase in operating profit of 55% to US$41m compared to 2013," said Junon.
Twiga recorded a 15% increase in sales volumes as a result of a better production efficiency, the commissioning of a new cement mill in the last quarter and the re-introduction of Twiga Extra in the company's product mix. Junon said that cement industry prospects are positive as consumption in the country and the East African block had continued to grow over the last few years. "Having an expanded capacity, Twiga is well placed to meet this growing demand," said Junon.
JSW Cement puts Gulbarga plant on the back-burner 20 March 2015
India: JSW Cement plans to shelve its plans to set up a 3Mt/yr clinker plant at Chittapur in Gulbarga temporarily as the company's short-term goal is to ensure that its Andhra Pradesh plant reaches full capacity, according to a company spokesperson.
In 2014 JSW Cement announced plans to pump around US$400 – 480m into its Gulbarga plant. JSW Cement currently runs three plants; the¬ 4.8Mt/yr Nandyal plant in Andhra Pradesh, the 0.7Mt/yr Vijayanagar plant in Karnataka and the 0.7Mt/yr Dolvi plant in Maharashtra. While its Vijayanagar and Dolvi plants are running at 100% capacity utilisation, its Nandyal plant is stuck at 50% capacity utilisation due to low cement demand.
"There is 50% capacity utilisation at our Nandyal plant. Since we already have around 2.5Mt/yr of unused capacity, we need to convert it into utilised capacity," said JSW Cement director and CEO Anil Kumar Pillai. "For that to happen, it will take another one to one and a half years. Until such time, there is no point in expanding," JSW Cement director and chief executive officer Anil Kumar Pillai told TOI. Pillai." He added the company will be firming up its plans to improve capacity as it has an internal target of producing 20Mt/yr by 2020."So we will be finalising our plans by September - October 2015. By that time we will have a picture of if we will be going ahead with Gulbarga or something else," said Pillai.
To reach its target of producing 20Mt/yr, JSW Cement is also open to taking the inorganic growth path and is evaluating various options, according to Pillai. He added that the company would prefer to acquire assets in the south of India.
Pillai said that, overall, the cement sector has seen no growth recently as the government has launched any big infrastructure expenditure. However, with some major announcements made in the Union budget towards pushing infrastructure growth, the second half of the next fiscal year could be a turning point for the cement industry.
Tokyo Cement plans expansion project 20 March 2015
Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) plans to invest US$50m on 1Mt/yr of additional production capacity to meet local demand.
The extra capacity will be via a new plant under a new subsidiary, Tokyo Eastern Cement. The project is expected to be implemented in the next two years. It will receive a five-year tax holiday and a tax rate of 12%. The project will be funded through internal funds and loans.
In its 2014 financial year, Tokyo Cement's revenue grew by 6% year-on-year, while its operating profit rose by 65%. Its current market share in Sri Lanka is 35%.
UAE: Everest Industries' new US$16m plant is now expected to be operational by December 2015 or January 2016. The plant will produce cement boards and panel products and is Everest Industries' first overseas venture. The products will cater to the company's exports in West Asian and African nations.
"We are hopeful of making the overseas unit operational by December 2015 or January 2016. It will give us better access to the Middle Eastern and African markets," said Rahul Chopra senior vice president and head roofing business. According to Chopra, the Ras Al-Khaimah unit might bring down export costs. Currently, exports contribute around US$32m towards Everest Industries' turnover.
With three of its recent facilities coming on-stream in the last two years, Chopra said that Everest Industries is now planning to ramp up and consolidate domestic manufacturing across its various segments and improve its distribution network via the addition of a 'retail touch point' in all centres with a population of 5000 - 10,000.
Europe: Holcim's board of directors has determined that its merger with Lafarge will be delayed due to the disagreement of terms on the deal. In a statement, Holcim said that the agenda for its upcoming annual general meeting will only focus on direct Holcim business and not the merger.
According to local media, Lafarge and Holcim are discussing a change in the planned leadership of their combined company to rescue the merger amid growing resistance to Lafarge CEO Bruno Lafont taking the top job. The companies are considering naming another Lafarge executive as CEO instead of Lafont to address demands from Holcim that would allow the deal to go ahead. Lafont could become co-chairman of the new entity, together with Holcim chairman Wolfgang Reitzle. The appointments are among various management changes being discussed.