Displaying items by tag: Australia
Senior executive changes at Boral
27 February 2019Australia: Boral has made a number of changes to its senior executive team that will take effect from 1 March 2019. Joe Goss, currently Chief Executive Boral Australia, moves to a senior advisory role reporting to Boral’s chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director, Mike Kane.
Wayne Manners, currently Executive General Manager, Western Australia, Building Products & Major Projects, will become President and CEO Boral Australia.
Ross Harper, currently Executive General Manager Cement will become Group President Operations, responsible for Boral Australia and Boral North America as well as Group HS&E. Ross will be working closely with Wayne Manners and David Mariner (President & CEO Boral North America) in this new role.
Ros Ng, currently Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chair of USG Boral will have an expanded role as Group President Ventures and CFO, which includes Group Strategy and M&A and broader responsibility for the USG Boral and Meridian Brick joint ventures. Ros will work closely with Frederic de Rougemont (CEO USG Boral) and Chris Fenwick (CEO Meridian Brick) to deliver the strategy and results of the joint ventures.
In addition to these changes, Greg Price, currently Executive General Manager, New South Wales, for Boral Australia will take on an expanded role, including responsibility for Boral’s Project Management Office, which manages major projects.
Cement market drives Boral Australia’s half-year results
26 February 2019Australia: Boral Australia’s revenue grew slightly to US$1.31bn in its half year to 31 December 2018. This was supported by growing revenues from its cement, quarry and asphalt businesses. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 8% year-on-year to US$194m from US$210m. This was blamed on lower concrete sales volumes and rising fuel costs.
“Boral’s half year results reflect strong underlying businesses, which were impacted by adverse weather, particularly in North America, as well as project-related volume delays in Australia. We expect to deliver growth in the second half,” said chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director Mike Kane. Overall, the group’s revenue rose but its EBITDA fell.
Fletcher slows down under
18 February 2019New Zealand: Fletcher Building is expecting to declare lower earnings in the half year to 31 December 2018 due to a regional slowdown, particularly in Australia. Its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the six month period was around 10% lower than the same period of the 2017-2018 financial year. It is expected to be in the range of US$432-467m.
In a report Fletcher Building said, “While the company continues to target a result at the top end of this range, it is prudent at this stage in the year to highlight that the 2019 financial year EBIT will be impacted by the outage at the Golden Bay Cement plant, the slowdown in the Australian residential market and the reduction in land development earnings compared to last year.”
Jack Truong officially appointed as chief of James Hardie
06 February 2019Australia: Jack Truong has been officially appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) and executive director of James Hardie. He was first announced as CEO successor in September 2018. He succeeds Louis Gries, who has stepped down from the post in a structured transition process.
Truong has been President of International Operations at James Hardie since April 2017. Prior to James Hardie, he was the president and CEO of Electrolux North America and worked for 22 years at 3M Company, where he held senior leadership roles throughout the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific, including Vice President and General Manager of the Global Construction and Home Improvements Division and Global Office Supplies Division. Truong holds a PhD in chemical engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.
Australia/New Zealand: George Agriogiannis has been appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) at Holcim Australia and New Zealand. He succeeds Mark Campbell, according to the Australian newspaper. Agriogiannis was previously the executive general manager of concrete and aggregates at Adelaide Brighton. His departure coincides with new CEO Nick Miller officially taking up the post. Agriogiannis starts the new job with the LafargeHolcim subsidiary on 11 March 2019.
Australia: Nick Miller has officially started work as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Adelaide Brighton. He succeeds Martin Brydon, who will continue with the company until 31 March 2019 at the latest.
Mayur Resources completes feasibility study for new cement plant in Papua New Guinea
24 January 2019Papua New Guinea: Australia’s Mayur Resources has completed a feasibility report looking into building an integrated cement plant near Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. The cement and lime plant project has an estimated cost of US$331m. It will produce 1.65Mt/yr of clinker, be able to grind 0.9Mt/yr of cement and produce 0.2Mt/yr of quicklime. The study also found that the project area had reserves of 78Mt of limestone and 14Mt of maiden mineral resource that could support the project for 30 years.
The company is now arranging compensation agreements with the local community and submitting a mining lease application. Award of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) design and engineering contracts, finalise product offtake and project financing arrangements are scheduled for the second half of 2019.
Australia: Adelaide Brighton has appointed Theresa Mlikota as its chief financial officer (CFO). She will start the role on 15 April 2019. Darryl Hughes will continue as Acting CFO until then.
Mlikota holds 30 years’ experience in the resources and construction sector. She is currently the CFO of mining services company Ausdill and previously held the role of CFO with Fulton Hogan, Thiess, Macmahon and Barminco. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a member of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA).
Global Carbon Budget forecasts CO2 emissions to grow by 2.7% in 2018
06 December 2018Australia: Research by the Global Carbon Budget (GCB) forecasts that CO2 emissions will grow by 2.7% year-on-year to a 37.1 ± 2 Gt CO2 in 2018. This follows a rise of 1.6% to 36.2Gt after a three-year hiatus with stable global emissions. The 2018 forecast is based on preliminary data for the first 6 – 9 months indicate a renewed growth in fossil CO2 emissions based on national emission projections for China, the US, the European Union (EU) and India and projections of gross domestic product corrected for recent changes in the carbon intensity of the economy for the rest of the world.
In 2017 the GCB estimates that cement sector constituted 4% of global fossil CO2 emissions, a rise of 1.2% from 2016. Emissions are expected to grow by 4% in China in 2018, in part due to a 1% rise in cement production. In the EU emissions are projected to fall by 0.7% with stable cement sector emissions. In India emissions are forecast to increase by 6.3% with a 13.4% rise in cement sector emissions.
Fossil CO2 emissions are based on energy statistics and cement production data. The research makes its estimate of emissions from the cement industry using a method adapted from a paper published by Robbie M Andrew of Norway’s CICERO Center for International Climate Research in 2017.
Australia: Nick Miller plans to start working as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of Adelaide Brighton on 30 January 2019. He succeeds Martin Brydon, who is retiring. Miller was previously announced in the role in October 2018 but his start date was yet to be confirmed.