Displaying items by tag: Australia

World: FCT Combustion has released details on new burner projects it is involved with. Selected projects include a new contract in the US to convert both kilns to natural gas firing at Ash Grove Cement’s Louisville plant in Nebraska. The order includes Gyro-Therm MKII Burners, Natural Valve Trains and NFPA 86 BMS for both kilns.

Nova Cimangola in Angola has contracted FCT to convert its 5000t/day kiln to fuel oil firing. The order includes a multi fuel main burner, calciner burners, oil heating units, oil pumping and filtering units and control panels.

FCT also provided details about a low NO_x kiln conversion for an undisclosed client. Other selected cement sector projects include the commissioning of Turbu-Flex burner systems for clinker kilns at Finnsementti’s Parainen and Lappeenranta plants in Finland. These are scheduled for commissioning in March 2019 and April 2019 respectively. Baumit’s Wopfing plant in Austria is due for a natural has lance for kiln preheating to be delivered later in March 2019.

It also plans to deliver a Turbu-Flex burner system for a clinker kiln to an undisclosed client in China later in March 2019. It is based on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study undertaken by FCT is to allow for the firing of natural gas and to modernise the plant. Commissioning is scheduled for March 2019.

Australia: Wagners Cement has suspended its supply of cement products to Boral for six months. Wagners has a cement supply agreement with Boral where it supplies cement on an annual basis for a fixed price. However, Boral issued a notice to Wagners saying that it has found cheaper cement from a ‘long established’ supplier in South East Queensland.

As per the agreement Wagners can either match the lower price or suspend its supply. Wagners has decided to suspend its supply to Boral pending a resolution of the issue. It said that the potential financial impact of the pricing notice is US$14m.

Australia: Kirkland Lake Gold plans to build a US$28m cement plant at its Fosterville Gold Mine in Victoria. The unit will be used to manufacture products to fill underground voids left over by the mining process, according to the Bendigo Advertiser newspaper. This in turn will allow ore yields to increase by mining adjacent to the former voids. The new cement plant is expected to be operational in the second half of 2019. The decision to build a cement plant at the mine follows an announcement that gold yields at the site are expected to double in 2019.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s sales revenue grew by 4.6% year-on-year to US$1.16bn in 2018 from US$1.11bn in 2017. Its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell slightly to US$188m. The group said that its cement sales volumes grew by 1.1% in 2018 due to ‘strong’ demand in Melbourne and Sydney from residential construction and infrastructure projects. Prices increased in most markets with the exception of South Australia, where it faced competition from bulk imports.

“Increased revenue in 2018 reflects Adelaide Brighton capitalising on the favourable demand environment for construction materials and lime as well as the delivery on expectations for the concrete and aggregates acquisitions made in 2017. “East coast construction markets were strong in 2018, South Australia and the Northern Territory were flat and Western Australia was down, while lime demand from the resources sector was stable,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Nick Miller.

Australia: 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.

Australia: 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.

New 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.”

Australia: 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.