Displaying items by tag: Australia

Australia: Hanson Australia has changed its name to Heidelberg Materials Australia as part of parent company Heidelberg Materials’ global rebranding strategy.

The company started in 1949 when Pioneer was established as a ready-mix concrete producer. It was later acquired by Hanson in 2000 and rebranded as Hanson Australia in 2004. Hanson was subsequently acquired by Heidelberg Materials in 2007. Heidelberg Materials began its global rebranding from Heidelberg Cement in September 2022. Hanson’s subsidiaries Hymix, Pioneer North Queensland, Placecrete, Traino, Alex Fraser and Suncoast Asphalt will continue to operate under their existing brands.

CRH, formerly Cement Roadstone Holdings, announced this week that CEO Albert Manifold is retiring at the end of 2024. He will be replaced by current chief financial officer Jim Mintern in the role. Manifold will continue to work as an advisor to CRH in 2025. Manifold’s time at the head of CRH marks a decade of considerable change at the group. Crudely, CRH had a market capitalisation of US$19bn at the start of 2014 when Manifold became CEO. At the end of 2023 the group’s market capitalisation was US$50bn.

From a cement sector perspective the big events during Manifold’s tenure include CRH’s acquisition of assets around the world from the Lafarge-Holcim merger in 2015, the purchase of Ash Grove Cement in the US in 2018, the divestment of various businesses in emerging markets and the move of the company’s primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange in 2023. However, at the same time, CRH has been constantly sharpening its portfolio. So, for example, the group bought Germany-based lime and aggregates company Fels in 2017 only to later sell off its European lime business in 2023 and 2024. In the late 2010s the group sold off its US and Europe-based distribution businesses. Then, in 2022, it divested its Building Envelope business. Manifold was also the inaugural president of the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) when it formed in 2018.

Fairly or unfairly, CRH has given the sense over the last decade of often being ahead of the curve in following the cement markets. After it increased its portfolio when Lafarge and Holcim merged, it sold up relatively quickly in India and Brazil. Famously during an earnings call for CRH’s second quarter results in 2019, Manifold said that the group was prioritising its businesses in the developed world. CRH’s focus on the US in the late 2010s through the acquisition of Ash Grove Cement set it up well for the current strength of the cement market in North America, long before others joined the party. Another striking Manifold statement came at the company’s annual general meeting in 2023 when, in the run-up to the US listing move, he described his company as a ‘de facto’ American company.

Things that may have gone less well for Manifold on the cement side, that we know about, include CRH’s quiet attempt to divest its business in the Philippines in the late 2010s. The company wasn’t alone in trying through. Holcim publicly said that it had signed a deal to sell its local business in 2019 only to declare that it wasn’t happening the following year. Cemex is currently in the process of selling its subsidiary in the country, DMCI Holdings, but it hasn’t concluded yet. More recent acquisitions such as assets from Martin Marietta Materials in Texas in early 2024 and a majority stake in Adbri in Australia are clearly strategic and fit the definition of ‘bolt-on’ but they seem to lack the grand ambition of the earlier big deals.

Questions have also been asked about Manifold’s pay over the years. From 2016 onwards the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), for example, has repeatedly raised concerns about executive pay rises at CRH and recommended on occasion that shareholders reject them. Manifold became the highest paid head of an Irish public company and was reportedly the third highest paid CEO on the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index (FTSE 100) in 2022. His response from one interview with the Irish Times newspaper in 2018 was simply: “I’m employed and paid very well to deliver shareholder returns.”

Looking back over the last decade, CRH was well placed to take advantage of the Lafarge-Holcim merger before Manifold started in 2014 but once he was in place it went for it and he led the charge. Yet, the Ash Grove Cement acquisition may prove to be the more momentous move given the current divergence of the European and North American markets. As readers may remember from the time, Summit Materials made a public counter offer but it was rebuffed. Albert Manifold was in charge of CRH and so he takes the credit. These are big shoes to fill. As Richie Boucher, the chair of CRH said in Manifold’s outgoing statement, “Under Albert’s leadership CRH has delivered superior growth and performance with consistently improving profitability, cash generation and returns.”

Australia: Zeolite, kaolin and metakaolin producer Zeotech has appointed James Marsh as its new CEO, effective from 9 September 2024. Current CEO Scott Burkhart will then transition to chief operating officer. The appointment is intended to support Zeotech’s entry into large-scale production of high reactivity metakaolin for use in cement and concrete.

Marsh is a director of Australian Kaolin. He previously worked as executive director sales and marketing at Andromeda Metals, after holding managerial roles at multiple minerals companies. He has a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Physics from the University of the West of England, UK.

Managing Director Peter Zardo said "James' technical experience in the industrial mineral and cement industries, especially metakaolin, will be pivotal in accelerating Zeotech's goal of becoming a significant supplier of premium supplementary cementitious materials. Queensland-based leadership is critical to achieving the Company's objectives as we ramp up work programmes and industry engagement, and James will play an essential hands-on role in executing Zeotech's strategy."

James Marsh said "I'm excited to join Zeotech at a crucial stage of the company's strategy, where I can utilise my experience and connections to make it a significant player in decarbonising the construction industry."

Australia: The new Geelong grinding plant, situated near Lascelles Wharf in Victoria, has commenced operations. It has the capacity to grind 1.3Mt/yr of granulated blast furnace slag and clinker. It will utilise slag to reduce landfill waste and substitute cement in concrete products. According to Boral’s post on LinkedIn, the plant will provide direct and indirect job opportunities to help boost the Geelong economy.

Australia: Calix has been awarded a US$10m grant from the Australian government’s Carbon Capture Technologies Program to build a commercial demonstration electric calciner for ‘near zero emissions’ lime and cement production. The grant covers up to 50% of the expenditure, contingent on meeting project milestones.

The project will utilise the Leilac technology to capture up to 20,000t/yr of CO₂ from the cement and lime manufacturing processes. The project will create two revenue streams via a ‘near zero emissions’ lime product, as well as up to 15,000t/yr of captured CO₂ being sold to the SM1 project for green methanol production.

In the second phase of the project, production will be expanded to include the processing of cement raw meal to a ‘near zero emissions’ clinker product, with captured CO₂ supplied for use.

Australia: Woodside Energy and Cemex have invested US$6.7m in Melbourne-based KC8 Capture Technologies to support its efforts in achieving net zero emissions via carbon capture and storage.

KC8 is partnering with Cement Australia to construct a commercial demonstration plant in Gladstone, Queensland, aiming to capture 15t/day of CO₂. A partnership with Cemex aims to capture over 100t/day of CO₂ at one of its major plants. Additionally, KC8 plans a commercial pilot at the US Department of Energy’s National Carbon Capture Centre to capture 10-15t/day of CO₂ from natural gas combustion flue gas. The initiative has also secured US$6m from Low Emission Technology Australia and US$11.26m from the US government.

Executive director Greg Ross said "The funds will be used to expand KC8’s team and expedite deployment of its technology into hard-to-abate industries, such as cement – through a number of key projects."

Australia: CRH has won approval from Adbri shareholders to acquire 57% of the company for close to US$1.4bn. The deal was the result of a unanimous vote in favour on 12 June 2024.

Adbri’s lead independent director and chair of its independent board committee Samantha Hogg said “A combined CRH and Adbri will bring growth opportunities, new talent and innovation to continue to strengthen Adbri’s product offering in Australia.”

Australia: Veolia ANZ and ResourceCo have secured a contract to supply over 1Mt of refuse derived fuel (RDF) from their Adelaide facility to Adbri Cement's Birkenhead plant, aiming to replace natural gas and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to Veolia, around 1.5Mt of waste will be diverted from landfill during the course of the contract.

Brett Brown, chief operating officer at Adbri, said "Adbri has pioneered the use of RDF in Australia. Cement manufacturing is energy intensive, and the use of alternative fuels is one of the levers we are using to reduce our emissions as part of our goal of net zero by 2050."

Australia: Cement Australia has received a US$34.4m federal grant for a kiln upgrade to its Railton cement plant in Tasmania. The upgrade will allow the plant to raise its alternative fuels substitution rate. The project is funded by the government’s Powering the Regions initiative, with total investments valued at US$215m.

Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said “This US$215m investment in Australia’s hard-to-abate manufacturing and mining facilities is about securing the future of high-quality, low-emissions products made right here. Northern Tasmania, Central Queensland and Western Australia have been industrial powerhouses for generations, and the government is ensuring that continues. As global markets change rapidly, we’re supporting Australian industry to not only survive but thrive with our world-class products that support regional jobs across the country.”

Australia: The Australian federal government has granted Adbri US$32.5m for a new front-end engineering and design study at its Birkenhead cement plant. The study will assess the possible installation of a new vertical roller mill and post-production blending system at the plant. InDaily News has reported that the proposed upgrade will increase the plant’s production capacity and help to expand its range of reduced-CO₂ cements. The funding falls under the government’s US$260m Critical Inputs to Clean Energy programme, which aims to help decarbonise the Australian economy by 2050.

CEO Mark Irwin said “With the Commonwealth’s support we have the potential to further accelerate the decarbonisation of our operations and products.”