Displaying items by tag: Cementos Argos

Colombia: Cementos Argos’ Rio Claro cement plant has completed construction of a new 0.45Mt/yr production line for calcined clays, an artificial pozzolan. This innovation makes the cement less environmentally damaging, as the production process’ CO2 emissions are 38% lower, with energy consumption 30% lower than ordinary Portland cement.

“With this project we are leading the industry and sowing the seeds of the Argos of the future, which today starts a new production line at Rio Claro,” said Juan Esteban Calle, President of Cementos Argos. “It has gigantic growth potential in all geographies, not only from the point of view of the product, but because it is a concrete action for the sustainability of our industry. In our commitment to climate change, this project clearly makes us very proud.”

Colombia: Cementos Argos has announced that its Green Bags initiative has seen the production of over 5 million bags from recycled paper, of which 808t was saved from going to waste. Cementos Argos supply chain manager David Restrepo that the initiative provides an alternative to ‘the felling of over 8000 trees and use of 64,000m³ of water, the equivalent of 26 Olympic swimming pools.’

US: The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) has awarded Conservation Certificates to Cementos Argos’ 1.5Mt/yr integrated Newberry plant in Florida and 0.6Mt/yr Atlanta grinding plant in Georgia. Cementos Argos has installed a bat roost at the Newberry plant and planted bee and butterfly gardens with bird boxes for year-round resident bluebirds. The company said that the certification signals its ‘long-term commitment to managing quality habitats for wildlife.’

US: Colombia’s Cementos Argos has sold 28 ready-mix concrete plants. ValorFuturo has reported that Smyrna Ready Mix Concrete (SRM) has acquired the company’s Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia assets. Cementos Argos stated that the reason for the divestments was the failure of the plants to generate operational efficiency due to their small and isolated nature.

In 2018 Cementos Argos produced 5.3Mm3 of concrete at its 236 ready-mix plants in the US region, making it the second biggest domestic producer after Cemex. It ranked fourth for cement production over the period, supplying the US market with 4.7Mt of cement from its four integrated and three grinding plants.

Colombia: Cementos Argos’ revenue in the three months to 30 September rose by 44% year-on-year to US$1.52bn for US$1.06bn. Lower sales across its cement and concrete sections caused the company’s three-month profit to drop by 65% year-on-year to US$10.3m over the period from US$29.6m. Higher costs also offset the income from the sale of the group’s Barranquilla natural gas power station to Glenfarne Group for US$420m in the quarter.

UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has launched ‘Innovandi,’ a research network between industry and scientific institutions. The network intends to research the areas of process technology, including the impact of co-processing, efficiency of clinker production and implementation of CCUS/ technologies, and products. This will include the impact of clinker substitutes and alternative binders in concrete, low carbon concrete technology and improve the understanding of CO₂ reduction through re-carbonation.

“Our industry is fully committed to taking action to reduce CO₂ emissions. As such, Innovandi is an industry led initiative and will bring together the best minds from all corners of the cement and concrete world, academia and business. Together we will truly collaborate on a global scale and use our expertise to find new ways of working and developing effective innovations,” said Benjamin Sporton, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the GCCA.

24 companies from the cement and concrete industry, including cement and concrete manufacturers, admixture specialists and equipment suppliers, have committed to the initiative, with scientific institutions and additional companies set to join as its work begins work. These include Buzzi Unicem, Cementir Holding, Cementos Argos, Cementos Molins, Cementos Pacasmayo, Cemento Progresso, Cemex, CNBM, Chryso, CRH, Dalmia Cement, FLSmidth, Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC), GCP Applied Technologies, Mapei, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, Nesher Israel Enterprises, SCG Cement, Titan Cement, Refratechnik Cement, Sika Technology, Subote New Materials and Votorantim.

As part of the new initiative, the GCCA also intends to establish an annual Innovandi global conference to promote collaboration on innovation and research in the sector.

US: Cementos Argos has won its case before the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Spartan Construction accused it of unlawfully selling cement at a lower price to a competing buyer in the US Virgin Islands. Mondaq reports that Argos traded with both Spartan and Heavy Materials on St. Thomas between 2010 and 2013, when Spartan withdrew its ready-mix concrete business from the island. Only the latter received a 10% volume discount. The court found Argos not in violation of competition law due to lack of proof of harm attributable to discriminatory prices.

US: The Environmental Protection Agency has recognised Cementos Argos’ South Carolina Harleyville Plant’s commitment to sustainable development in the United States with a second Energy Star. The award acknowledges energy efficiency and preservation of environmental resources 25% above that of comparable facilities across the US. The plant joins Argos’ consecutive Energy Star-holding plants at Newberry, Florida and Roberta, Alabama.

Colombia: Argos, the cement company of Grupo Argos, reported a 10.6% increase in revenue during the first half of 2019, driven mainly by higher cement volumes in the US and the start of price recovery in Colombia. Its consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 4%.

The company earned US$1.42m in revenue, with a net profit of US$22m, 33.5% higher than in the first half of 2018. Its EBITDA in the US was US$262.4m. Cement shipments were close to 8Mt, 1.2% higher than in the first half of 2018, and concrete dispatches were 5Mm3, a decrease of 2.5% due to the impact of heavy rains in some regions of the US.

“In the first half of 2019 we continued to strengthen our operation and our presence in the United States with the execution of the BEST 2.0 efficiency plan, which, added to the best price dynamics that we began to see in Colombia, allowed us to compensate the pressure we experienced in energy costs,” said Juan Esteban Calle, CEO of Argos. “The significant progress of our divestment plan in non-strategic assets allows us to continue focusing on improving the competitiveness of the company and innovating in products, services and solutions to support the growth of our customers.”

In the US Argos earned revenues of US$781m, 3.5% higher than in the first half of 2018. Its US EBITDA was stable year-on-year at US$108m. Cement dispatches in the US increased by 6.9% to exceed 3Mt, but concrete dispatches decreased by 3.8%, mainly due to heavy rains in the south-central region. The profit in the US was US$11m.

In Colombia revenues during the first half of 2019 were US$352m, 3.3% higher than in the first half of 2018. EBITDA was US$72m, 4% lower year-on-year. Cement dispatches totaled 2.4Mt, a 2.5% reduction. On the other hand, concrete sales remained stable at 1.4Mm3. The company reported that its Argos ONE digital platform continued to give ‘great’ results. From January 2019 to July 2019, 63% of cement and 44% of concrete dispatches were made through this digital platform.

In the Caribbean and Central America, the company highlighted that operations in the Dominican Republic and Haiti continued to be positive, compensating for the challenging political environment that was evident during the period in Honduras and Panama.

In this region, revenues stood at US$286m, a 4.5% reduction year-on-year. EBITDA in this region came to US$79m dollars, 19.8% lower year-on-year. Cement dispatches were 2.5Mt and concrete dispatches were 194,000m3, 1.5% and 3% lower respectively year-on-year.

Colombia: Cementos Argos Colombia supplied around 220,000m³ of concrete and over 8000t of cement for the constriction of the Oriente Tunnel. The road infrastructure project near Medellín in Antioquia is scheduled to be commissioned in mid-August 2019. Work on the project started in 2015. The tunnel had an investment of around US$300m and it will be the longest operational road tunnel in South America when it opens.