Displaying items by tag: Aalborg Portland

Denmark: Aalborg Portland Cement increased its turnover by 5% to Euro1.19bn in 2018, from Euro1.14bn in 2017. It attributed the growth largely to acquisitions it made in recent years. It saw its sales drop slightly in Denmark but exports to nearby markets and to the US increased.

Aalborg Portland's profit after tax increased to Euro140m in 2018 from Euro119m in 2017. Its profit margin increased to 12.8% from 12.6%.

The European Union’s (EU) verified CO₂ emissions figures were released earlier this week on 1 April 2019. The good news is that no cement plant is within the top 100 largest emitters. All the top spots are held by power plants, iron and steel producers and the odd airline. Indeed, out of all of the verified emissions, cement clinker or lime production only represents 7% of the total emissions. Of course this is too much if the region wants to meet its climate change commitments but it is worth remembering that other industries have a long way to go as well and they don’t necessarily face the intrinsic process challenges that clinker production has. If the general public or governments are serious about cutting CO₂ emissions then they might consider, for example, taking fewer flights with airlines before picking on the cement industry.

The EU emitted 117Mt of CO₂ from its clinker and lime producers in 2018, a 2.7% year-on-year decrease compared to 120Mt in 2017. This compares to 158Mt in 2008, giving a 26% drop in emissions over the decade to 2018. However, there are two warnings attached to this data. First, there are plants on this list that have closed between 2008 and 2018. Second, there are plants that provided no data in 2018, for example, all the plants in Bulgaria. Climate change think tank Sandbag helpfully pointed out in its analysis of the EU emissions data that industrial emissions have barely decreased since 2012. The implication here being that the drop from 2008 to 2012 was mainly due to the economic recession. Sandbag also made the assertion that 96% of the cement industry’s emissions were covered by free allocations in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) thereby de-incentivising sector willingness to decarbonise.

By country the emissions in 2018 from cement and lime roughly correspond with production capacity, although this comes with the caveat that emissions link to actual production not potential capacity. So, Germany leads followed by Spain, Italy, Poland and France. Of these Poland is a slight outlier, as will be seen below.

Table 1: Top 10 CO₂ emitting plants in the European Union in 2018. Source: European Commission.

Poland leads the count in the top 10 EU CO₂ emitting cement plants in 2018 with five plants. Greece follows with two plants. This list is deceptive as all of these plants are large ones with production capacities of 2Mt/yr and above. As it contains many of the largest plants in the EU no wonder the emissions are the highest. It is also worth considering that there are far larger plants outside of the EU.

In summary, as most readers will already know, the cement industry is a significant minority CO₂ emitter in the EU. Countries with larger cement sectors emit more CO₂ as do larger plants. So far, so obvious. Emissions are down since 2008 but this mostly seems to have stalled since 2012, bar a blip in 2017. The change though has been the rising carbon price in the EU ETS in 2018. Coincidentally the carbon price has been fairly low and stable since 2012. If the mechanism is working properly then changes should start to appear in 2019. Already in 2018 a few European cement producers announced plant closures and blamed the carbon price. Watch this space.

The Global Future Cement Conference & Exhibition on low and zero CO2 cement production will take place in Brussels, Belgium on 22 - 23 May 2019

Denmark: Aalborg Portland has signed a five-year cement transport deal with Demstrup Autotransport and Silo Trans following a tendering process. The deal covers the producer’s domestic cement distribution of over 1.25Mt/yr. This involves more than 33,000 movements per year. Demstrup Autotransport will be responsible for distribution in North and Central Jutland and Zealand. Silo Trans will handle distribution in Sønderjylland and in Funen.

HeidelbergCement made Italy’s Cementir Holding its Valentine last week in the form of a deal for the Italian company to buy up the remaining shares in Lehigh White Cement in the US. Cementir takes control of the former joint venture by upping its share to 63.25% for US$107m and one of the other partners, Cemex, increases its share to 36.75% for US$34m. Despite making the announcement on Valentine’s Day HeidelbergCement then described the sale in fairly unromantic language, “As a niche product with small volumes, the standalone production of white cement does not fit to the strategic focus on efficiency of HeidelbergCement.” Maybe they could just send flowers to each other next year instead!

More seriously, this latest deal by Cementir is yet another intriguing evolution of the Italian multinational building materials producer. The company says it is the largest white cement producer in the world through subsidiaries like Aalborg Portland in Demark, Sinai White Cement in Egypt and Lehigh White Cement in the US. Its plant at El-Arish in Egypt is the largest white cement unit in the world. In 2016 it reported a white cement production capacity of 3.3Mt/yr from six plants in Denmark, Egypt, China, Malaysia and the US. Its volume sales of white cement were 2.2Mt at this time or a capacity utilisation rate of 67%. In the US it operates two white cement plants located in Waco, Texas and York, Pennsylvania with a total capacity of 0.26Mt/yr, as well as a distribution network throughout the country, which is also used to distribute white cement imported from its partners across North America. In 2017 Cementir produced 10.3Mt of Ordinary Portland (grey) Cement and white cement, a rise of 24.6% year-on-year from 8.25Mt in 2016. The boost was delivered by the acquisition of Compagnie des Ciments Belges. Like-for-like sales volumes increased by around 1.7% year-on-year.

Cementir left the Italian market in 2017 when it sold Cementir Italia to HeidelbergCement for Euro315m. As this column commented as the time (GCW320) the deal seemed cheap given that HeidelbergCement paid Euro315m for five integrated cement plants plus extras. However, Cementir appeared to actually make a profit on Sacci which it picked up cheaply in 2016.

Now HeidelbergCement has returned the favour by selling Cementir the controlling stake in Lehigh White Cement. The German cement producer may have grumpily rubbished the sale in its press release but the language makes one wonder whether this was a quiet part of the Cementir Italia deal in 2017. The white cement industry is miniscule compared to the OPC one but HeidelbergCement has just handed even more control of it to Cementir. From Cementir’s perspective this probably seems very efficient.

US: HeidelbergCement has announced that its subsidiary Lehigh Cement Company has signed an agreement to sell its 51% position in Lehigh White Cement Company to the minority shareholders Aalborg Cement Company and Cemex. Closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions and is expected during the first quarter 2018. Authorisation by the Antitrust Authority has already been obtained.

Lehigh White Cement Company operates two plants in Waco, Texas and York, Pennsylvania with a combined production capacity of approximately 0.26Mt/yr.

“As a niche product with small volumes, the standalone production of white cement does not fit to the strategic focus on efficiency of HeidelbergCement,” said Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. “The disposal is part of our global portfolio review and optimisation with the goal to generate additional cash flow in order to support our disciplined growth and increase shareholder returns.”

Cemex, via its US subsidiary, will increase its stake from 24.5% to 36.75% when the deal is completed. It will pay US$34.0m. Cementir, via Aalborg Cement, will pay US$107.m for the purchase of a further 38.75% stake. This will take its total share to 63.25% once the deal goes through.

"This acquisition gives us the opportunity to enter the direct management of assets in the US in a segment, that of white cement, which is our core business, strengthening our global leadership consistent with our development strategy," commented Francesco Caltagirone Jr, President and chief executive officer of Cementir Holding.

France: Denmark’s Aalborg Portland has inaugurated its terminal at Rochefort. The Atlantic port terminal is intended to supply the west of France, according to the Sud-Ouest newspaper. The terminal has a capacity of 4900t and it has been operational since May 2017.

Denmark: Aalborg Portland has awarded A Tec a contract to upgrade its Cement Kiln 87 in Aalborg. It has ordered two calciners for its 4500t/day semi-dry kiln system that was commissioned in 1988. The calciners will be designed and delivered during the kiln’s annual stop in February and March 2017. Commissioning is planned for the spring of 2017. The upgrades are intended to increase production of Ordinary Portland Cement on the line.

A Tec intends to adapt the flow pattern of the calciner system in a way to improve the operational behaviour of the system. The design will be configured for the usage of 100% solid alternative fuels with low emissions. Additionally, the number of kiln stops due fall through cyclone blockages should be reduced. A Tec will conduct the engineering, supply the equipment and will be responsible for errection and documentation.

The new calciner system will be equipped with the A Tec Post Combustion Chamber (PCC) for the optimised mixture of fuels and combustion air in the end section of the calciner. The PCC was specially developed for the achievement of complete combustion of alternative fuels at high substitution rates.

Denmark: Piero Corpina has been appointed as the head of the Nordic & Baltic region of Aalborg Portland Holding and chief executive officer of Aalborg Portland and Unicon with effect from 2 January 2017. The Nordic & Baltic Region includes Aalborg Portland, Unicon with plants in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and subsidiaries in Poland, Russia, Iceland, the UK, France and the US. Corpina will be based at the group’s Nordic headquarters at Islands Brygge in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Corpina, aged 47 years, has 20 years of industry experience with LafargeHolcim covering senior line, staff and project roles and he worked on the merger between Lafarge and Holcim. In 2011 he was nominated the chief executive officer of Holcim Italy.

The Italian and Swiss national holds an MBA and PhD from Hochschule St Gallen in Switzerland and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School in Boston, USA and IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Belgium: HeidelbergCement, through its subsidiary Ciments Français, has agreed to sell its operations in Belgium, primarily consisting of Italcementi’s Belgian subsidiary Compagnie des Ciments Belges (CCB), to Aalborg Portland Holding, a subsidiary indirectly 100% controlled by Cementir Holding. The transaction has been valued at Euro312m on a cash and debt-free basis. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016.

“With the disposal of the Belgium assets we fulfil the obligation of the European Commission and improve the net financial position of HeidelbergCement after the acquisition of the 45% share in Italcementi,” said Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. “We are well on track to reach our target of at least Euro1bn of proceeds from disposals.”

The divestment of operations in Belgium was offered to the European Commission in order to address competition concerns caused by the group’s acquisition of Italcementi. The sale to Cementir Holding is subject to the approval of the European Commission.