Displaying items by tag: Buzzi

US: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the US Department of Labor has found that Buzzi Unicem USA failed in its duty to implement safe practices, after a 50-year-old employee died at work in February 2023. The victim was working on a Mississippi River barge belonging to Buzzi Unicem USA subsidiary River Cement Sales when he fell overboard, leading to his death. OSHA concluded that Buzzi Unicem USA had committed multiple serious safety violations. Those connected to the tragedy in February 2023 included failures to ensure that workers wore personal floatation devices and to install guardrails. The administration said that the failures ‘cost a worker his life.’ Safety inspectors proposed a fine of US$62,500 for the breaches.

Italy: Alpacem subsidiary W&P Cementi has concluded a deal to buy Buzzi’s Fanna cement plant in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The plant has a clinker capacity of 660,000t/yr. As a part of the deal, Buzzi will obtain a 25% stake in Alpacem’s Austrian subsidiary Alpacem Zement Austria. Alpacem said that the deal expands the companies’ existing strategic partnership into the Austrian market. The parties expect to conclude the deal, pending the approval of competition authorities, in 2024.

Alpacem chief executive officers Bernhard Auer and Lutz Weber said “We are pleased to be expanding the strategic partnership. There are many future challenges in the cement sector that we can solve better together than we can individually.”

Italy: Buzzi's revenues rose by 14% year-on-year in the first half of 2023, to Euro2.15bn from Euro1.88bn in the first half of 2022. This was despite an 8.3% decline in its sales and volumes of cement and clinker, to 5.12Mt from 5.83Mt. The group recorded a rise in its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 58% to Euro575m from Euro365m. It noted an 'unfavourable economic situation,' with a slowdown in many of its markets.

Buzzi said "In the second quarter of 2023, the performance of the manufacturing segment was still weak, and contributed to limiting the growth prospects of international trade. In early 2023, consumer price inflation slowed down, thanks to the decrease in the energy component, although it remained at historically high levels. The decline in inflation was more evident in industrial goods, which incorporated the trend of energy prices." It added "Prospects continue to be negatively affected by persistent inflation and the consequent restrictive orientation of monetary policies in the major advanced economies, as well as by the uncertainty associated with the continuation of geopolitical tensions on a global scale, first of all the ongoing conlict in Ukraine."

UK: Private equity firm BGF has invested US$4.39m in carbon capture specialist Nuada. Nuada, formerly called MOF Technologies, is currently supplying its technology for a project at Buzzi’s Monselice cement plant in Italy. The system applies metal-organic framework (MOF) filters and vacuum swing absorption. Other partners on the project include Cementir Holding and Heidelberg Materials.

Nuada’s co-chief executive officer Conor Hamill said “There is no net zero without carbon capture. However, incumbent solutions are notoriously costly and energy intensive. Investment from BGF will further catalyse the scale-up and deployment of our technology, ensuring we are primed to efficiently decarbonise heavy industries.”

BGF’s investment is an extension to Nuada’s US$5.81m Series A funding round, which was co-led by the Clean Growth Fund and Barclays’ Sustainable Impact Capital portfolio.

US: Buzzi subsidiary Buzzi Unicem USA has published an update following a fire on the evening of 13 July 2023. The producer said that it first detected smoke from an alternative fuel (AF) store that housed wood chips and shredded tyres. Staff contacted the fire service, which brought the blaze under control without any injuries. The fire damaged the siding of the storehouse, as well as some electrical equipment. The producer said that the Stockertown cement plant did not lose electrical power, and that it is currently evaluating the extent of the damage.

Plant manager Rad Slavov said “I want to thank all the emergency responders for their quick response and professionalism in getting the fire under control swiftly.”

Germany: Dyckerhoff has launched Dyckerhoff Weiss Blue Star, a pozzolanic white cement CEM IV/A (P) 42.5 R product. It was approved by the German cement association, the VDZ, in mid-June 2023 and is now being manufactured at the Amöneburg plant. The lower CO₂ credentials of the new product have been promoted as it releases around 15% less CO₂ compared to CEM I cements. It is also notable for being a blended white cement.

US: A fire broke out in a building at Buzzi subsidiary Buzzi Unicem USA's Stockertown cement plant on the evening of 13 July 2023. Local fire crews arrived at the plant in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, at 19:18. The Express-Times newspaper has reported that the fire affected an electrical room, and that parties present at the scene requested that power to at least a portion of the facility be cut.

Ukraine: Buzzi has agreed to sell its business in Ukraine to Ireland-based CRH for US$109m. The assets additionally include Buzzi’s Slovakian ready-mix concrete business. The Ukrainian business is comprised of the 2Mt/yr Volyn cement plant and 1Mt/yr Nikolajev cement plants, as well as ready-mix concrete operations in Kiev, Nikolajev and Odessa.

Italy-based Buzzi retains its operations in Russia, including the 3.6Mt/yr Suchoi Log cement plant in Irkutsk Oblast and the 700,000t/yr Korkino cement plant in Chelyabinsk Oblast.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem has announced a change of its name to Buzzi from 1 June 2023. The company has retained its blue U-shaped logo with the Buzzi name at its centre. Subsidiaries’ names will continue to appear in text alongside the logo. The group said that this enables each company to capitalise on its assets, while reaffirming the vision of a common identity.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem reported first-quarter sales of Euro956m in 2023, up by 20% year-on-year from Euro800m in the first quarter of 2022. The producer's cement volumes dropped by 8.8% to 5.8Mt from 6.36Mt. It attributed this to a general slowdown of the construction sector across its markets. Local low demand from the residential market and adverse weather compounded the regional sales contraction in Central Europe. On the other hand, the group recorded volumes growth in Mexico and Russia and stability in Brazil. Both Mexico and Brazil produced revenues growth, while Buzzi Unicem's revenues fell in Russia due to the effect of the appreciation of the ruble against the comparison period in 2022, when the start of the on-going Russian invasion of Ukraine devalued it.

Overall, the group expects to 'easily' match its 2022 full-year earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2023. It said that that it could not currently delineate a 'clearly different picture,' but added "The stabilisation of energy prices, albeit at higher levels than in 2022, if confirmed, will allow us to have better visibility on the unfolding of the production costs from spring onwards."