Displaying items by tag: Denmark

Denmark: Novo Holdings has reduced its stake in FLSmidth to 4.8% from 10%. The equipment supplier said that the investor now holds 2.46m of its shares.

Denmark: FLSmidth has appointed Tamer Eid as the new president for the Australia region, with effect from 14 September 2020, and Claudio Garcia Bernal as president for the South America region. The group also announced that Ramanathan (Ram) Chandran, who was appointed president for the Subcontinental India region in August 2020, will start his role on 4 September 2020.

Tamer Eid has held various senior executive and technical roles in the mining and oil and gas sectors including working with Weir in the US and UK and in various senior roles within Outotec. He holds an MBA and a degree in mechanical engineering. He will be based out of FLSmidth’s Welshpool facility in Perth, Australia.

Claudio Garcia Bernal previously served as acting president for the South America region since April 2020. Ramanathan Chandran joins FLSmdith from Minerals Technologies Inc. where he was Vice President (Minteq Asia) & MD (Minerals Technologies India).

Denmark: FLSmidth has announced the reinstatement of its 2020 guidance. The guidance predicts full-year sales of Euro2.28bn, down by 18% year-on-year from Euro2.77bn. Earnings before taxation, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin is expected to decline to 6.0% from 8.1%. The company said that the guidance is “subject to higher uncertainty than usual” and conditional upon “no further escalation of Covid-19, no further extensive lockdowns or travel restrictions occurring before year-end, a gradual improvement in business sentiment for the remainder of 2020, and business improvement implementation of around Euro28.2m, of which Euro18.8m relate to the previously communicated improvement activities and around Euro9.40m relate to further improvement activities in cement.” It added, “The cement industry has been severely impacted, and the timing and extent of a rebound remain uncertain. Our goal for the cement business is to generate more stable, higher-margin earnings.”

Denmark: FLSmidth has predicted a 55% year-on-year decline in earnings before interest, taxation and amortisation (EBITA) in the first half of 2020 to Euro48.2m from Euro107m. Sales are Euro1.12bn, down by 15% from Euro1.33bn, and order intake was Euro1.33bn, down by 7% from1.42bn. Net debt is expected to have declined by 15% to Euro309m from Euro363m.

The company said, “Across all regions, the mining industry and especially the cement industry have been negatively affected by the pandemic. Even in the regions with easing of lockdowns and mobility restrictions, it is yet unclear how our customers’ spending patterns will advance. Visibility remains low and our guidance remains suspended.”

Pakistan: Power Cement says it has started commercial operation of its new 7700t/day clinker production line at its Nooriabad plant. It completed the procurement and installation of machinery for the new line in mid-2019. It was supplied by Denmark’s FLSmdith.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has announced its participation in a project aimed at increasing the height of wind turbine towers by producing larger bases on-site using 3D concrete printing technology. LafargeHolcim will supply concrete for use with Denmark-based COBOD’s 3D printing technology, while US-based GE Renewable Energy backs the project. The method enables bases to exceed the 4.5m maximum diameter necessitated by road transportation. This increases the maximum height of turbine towers by 100% to 200m from 100m, which in turn raises power generation by 33% to 20.2GWh/yr from 15.1GWh/yr.

LafargeHolcim research and development head Edelio Bermejo said, “Concrete 3D printing is a very promising technology for us, as its incredible design flexibility expands the realm of construction possibilities. Being both a user and promoter of clean energy, we are delighted to be putting our material and design expertise to work in this ground-breaking project, enabling cost efficient construction of tall wind turbine towers and accelerating access to renewable energy”

Denmark: FLSmidth has said that, following the appointment of Mikko Tepponen as its chief digital officer (CDO), it is embarking on an acceleration of digitisation projects and an expansion to its portfolio based on ‘direct collaboration and co-creation’ with customers. FLSmidth said that this aims at ‘increasing productivity in the cement industry through optimisation and efficiency, including by reduction of fuel and raw material consumption and of process heat, time and emissions, security enhancement and many other areas’ that would benefit from a digitally integrated approach.

Tepponen said, “Digitisation and sustainability go hand in hand. When you succeed in digitising key processes in any large-scale industry, you tend to see clear benefits in areas such as energy consumption, waste reduction and resource use. Without a serious focus on digitisation, it will be impossible for us at FLSmidth to reach our MissionZero sustainability ambitions.”

Denmark: FLSmidth’s revenue in the first three months of 2020 was Euro607m, up by 2.5% year-on-year from Euro592m in the corresponding period of 2019. FLSmidth’s cement division’s sales were Euro240m (40% of total revenue), down by 2.6% from Euro246m. The company said that the coronavirus outbreak impacted results, especially in March 2020, when ‘customer hesitation on large investments intensified, particularly in cement,’ and customers increasingly deferred large investments. It added, “Demand for spare and wear parts is relatively stable, whereas technical services are challenged by restricted access to sites.”

FLSmidth says that it aims to ‘carry out business as usual’ throughout the coronavirus outbreak, with an increased reliance on ‘remote monitoring, maintenance and support.’

FLSmidth’s 2020 financial guidance remains suspended.

Saudi Arabia: Denmark-based FLSmidth has announced that it has secured an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Yanbu Cement for a ‘massive’ efficiency-increasing upgrade to reduce the heat and power consumption of the 5.9Mt/yr integrated Yanbu cement plant in Al Madinah Province.

FLSmidth previously supplied the Yanbu cement plant with an automation upgrade and burner system retrofit in 2018. It concluded a service agreement with Yanbu Cement in 2019.

Switzerland: The board of directors of LafargeHolcim will request its shareholders to approve the appointment of Philippe Block and Kim Fausing as new members at its annual general meeting (AGM), due to be held on 12 May 2020. The appointments are intended to add perspectives from academia and the building industry to the board.

Block, a Belgian national born in 1980, is a Professor of Architecture and Structure at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. He is the founder and co-director of the Block Research Group at ETH where his research focuses on the analysis of unreinforced masonry structures, structural design, computational form finding and new construction techniques. Since 2014 he has served on the Academic Committee of the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction.

Fausing, a Danish national born in 1964, began his professional career with the Hilti Group in Denmark 1990. He went on to run its operations then took over country operations in Austria and Japan before becoming Division President at its headquarters in Liechtenstein. In 2007 Fausing moved to the Danish Danfoss Group to assume the role of chief operating officer. In January 2008 he became a member of its executive committee, which he has chaired since July 2017 as president and chief executive officer (CEO).

Except for Paul Desmarais, Jr, all other existing members of the Board will stand for re-election, with Beat Hess remaining as chairman. Hess said, “on behalf of the entire Board of Directors I would like to thank Paul Desmarais, Jr, for his generous contributions over the past years. He will be missed. At the same time I am glad we can propose these two outstanding candidates. I’m confident they would strengthen our board’s expertise by adding vast experience from multinational corporations as well as the perspective of a renowned academic who has focused on creating sustainable solutions.”