Displaying items by tag: Australia

Australia: Adelaide Brighton has announced the appointment of Vanessa Guthrie and Geoff Tarrant to the Adelaide Brighton Board as non-executive Directors, effective 8 February 2018. Company Chairman Les Hosking said that the appointments of Dr Guthrie and Mr Tarrant were part of Adelaide Brighton's Board renewal process.

Dr Guthrie has qualifications in geology, environment, law and business management, including a Doctor of Philosophy in Geology. She has more than 30 years' experience in the mining and resources industry across a variety of roles including operations, environment, community, indigenous affairs, corporate development and sustainability. She was previously CEO and Managing Director of Toro Energy Limited and Vice President Sustainable Development at Woodside Energy. Dr Guthrie is currently Chair of the Minerals Council of Australia and a non-executive Director of Santos Limited, Vimy Resources Limited and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Mr Tarrant has a Bachelor of Business and is a finance executive with over 25 years' experience gained in Australia, the UK and Asia. He is currently engaged in a corporate finance consultancy role with Deutsche Bank, where he has held a number of senior roles since 2002, primarily in mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. Prior to this he held finance roles with Citigroup, National Australia Bank and Price Waterhouse.

Australia: Boral Ltd has announced that its profit for the first half of the 2017-2018 fiscal year (from 1 July 2017 – 31 December 2017) rose by 13%. The company benefited from the 2017 acquisition of the US-based building products firm Headwaters Inc. and continued growth in its Australian business.

It reported a net profit of US$136.0m for the six month period, a rise of 12.7% compared to the same period of the 2016 – 2017 fiscal year when it made US$120.7m. Its profit before amortisation and significant items increased by 58% to US$$186.5m.

"These strong results confirm that our transformation strategy is on track," said Chief Executive Mike Kane. "The Headwaters acquisition has helped transform Boral into a construction materials and building products group with a greater geographic reach and improved prospects for growth."

Boral’s US business, which was only breaking even in 2015 – 2016, recorded a fourfold rise in earnings, despite adverse impacts from bad weather, including two hurricanes.

Kane also said Boral’s Australian arm, its largest divison, was ‘exceptionally strong’ during the half. Boral reported a 12% rise in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from that business.

"Higher revenues and earnings were driven by increased spending on infrastructure, in line with our expectations that a large proportion of our work would gradually shift from residential to infrastructure projects, primarily in the eastern states," said Kane.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton has signed new gas and electricity contracts in South Australia. It has entered into an agreement with Beach Energy for the supply of gas to its South Australian operations. It has also entered into an agreement with Infigen Energy for the supply of its electricity requirements to the Birkenhead and Angaston cement plants and Klein Point Quarry on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. The new agreements are intended to manage the company’s energy requirements and costs following a series of blackouts in the region.

The cement producer said that its energy strategy includes: a portfolio approach to energy supply and procurement benefits; consumption management and operational efficiency; the aim of obtaining 30% of energy supply from alternative fuels in the medium term; use of alternative cementitious materials in place of more energy intensive products; cost recovery through vertical integration and long term customer relationships; and financial strategies.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton will power some of its facilities with electricity from a 278.5MW wind farm owned by Infigen Energy, according to the Australian Financial Review. Adelaide Brighton will use the electricity to supply two of its cement plants near Adelaide, South Australia, and a quarry on Yorke Peninsula.

The two companies have signed a contract that calls for the cement manufacturer to buy power from the Lake Bonney wind farm for a five-year term. Specific terms of the deal have not been provided, while the contracted amount is said to be more than the 88GWh that were contracted in a bulk power purchase agreement (PPA) deal for a wind project in Melbourne earlier in November 2017.

Australia: An initial public offering by Wagners has been threatened from plans by a rival company to build a cement grinding plant and terminal in Brisbane, Queensland. Wagners operates its own 0.8Mt/yr grinding plant in the city and commentators mentioned by The Australian newspaper have speculated that this increased competition locally could damage its aspirations. However, Wagners believes that the new plant is unlikely to be built. The 0.2Mt/yr project from brick and tile maker Brickworks, in a consortium with Newman Quarrying and the Neilsen Group, remains in the planning stage.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton is investigating a series of transactions to a small number of customers who may have underpaid for the products supplied to them. The cement producer says it is investigating the situation ‘fully’ with the aid of the forensic accountants KPMG. It added that it is possible that an employee of the company is involved.

The company believes, that, based on the evidence so far, it appears that there may have been deliberately hidden underpayments by customers over a sustained period. This may have a negative impact on the company’s 2017 earning before interest and taxation (EBIT), currently estimated to be up to US$11m, less the impact of any recoveries that may be made. Adelaide Brighton has reported the situation to its auditors and will co-operate with relevant authorities as the investigation proceeds.

Australia: Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) has approved an application from Boral Cement to build a new 1.3Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Geelong in Melbourne, Victoria. The works will include an enclosed ball mill and covered store, covered belt conveyors, outdoor product stockpiles and several finished product storage and distribution silos at the site. Clinker will be unloaded from ships and delivered to the site via covered belt conveyors from Lascelles Wharf. The facility will operate 24-hours per day.

The EPA added that Boral Cement undertook community consultation prior to the submission of the application and during the public submission period.

Thailand: Siam Cement Group (SCG) has signed a deal to import 155,000t of coal from the US for its cement plants in Thailand and elsewhere in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Kalin Sarasin, a senior SCG executive and chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade, made the announcement following an official visit to the US by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, according to the Nation newspaper.

SCG will buy 100,000t of US coal in the first contract and a second contract will be for 55,000t to test the quality. Subsequently, the cement producer may buy more coal. At present, SCG imports around 6Mt/yr coal from Indonesia and Australia. The US coal will be used to substitute some of the Indonesian supply, which has been imported due to a higher demand for coal for power stations.

Australia: The Federal Court has upheld an appeal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and raised a fine against Cement Australia and its subsidiaries for anti-competitive agreements to US$16.1m. Originally the cement producer was fined US$13.4m but the ACCC argued it was too low. A cross appeal by Cement Australia was dismissed.

“The penalties imposed in competition cases are hugely important in deterring anti-competitive conduct, which is why we appealed the original penalties given to Cement Australia,” said ACCC Chairman Rod Sims.

The ACCC first brought the proceedings in 2008 against Cement Australia, Cement Australia Holdings, Cement Australia Queensland (formerly Queensland Cement Ltd), Pozzolanic Enterprises and Pozzolanic Industries. They were related to contracts that were entered into by Cement Australia companies between 2002 and 2006 with four power stations in South East Queensland, to acquire fly ash. The court found contraventions of the Competition and Consumer Act in 2014 and a fine was issued in 2016.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s Birkenhead cement plant has been criticised by a local environmental group for its dust emissions ahead of a review of its licence. The Port Adelaide Residents’ Environmental Protection Group has asked the plant to pay towards cleaning up dust emissions near to the plant as well as stricter controls of dust and noise, according to the Westside Weekly newspaper. The local Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is reviewing the cement producer’s current licence, which expires at the end of October 2017. The EPA has released a draft licence including conditions requiring the cement company to produce management plans to address dust and noise levels.