Displaying items by tag: Egypt
Suez Cement to merge with Helwan Cement
15 November 2017Egypt: The board of directors of Suez Cement has agreed to merge with Helwan Cement. It also agreed to sell a 5% stake in Tura Cement. Both Suez Cement and Helwan Cement are owned by HeidelbergCement. Suez Cement operates two plants at Suez and Kattameya. Helwan Cement runs a single plant at Helwan.
Titan benefits from US market so far in 2017
02 November 2017Greece: Titan Cement’s sales and operating profit have all benefited from growth in the US so far in 2017. The group’s net sales grew by 1.8% year-on-year to Euro1.14bn in the first nine months of 2017 from 1.12bn in the same period in 2016. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 4.6% to Euro215m from Euro205m.
In the US sales grew by 14% to Euro667m in the year to date, despite a poor third quarter due to disruption by hurricanes and other weather events. In the group’s Greece and Western Europe region, sales fell by 3% to Euro190m and earnings fell also. However, sales rose in Southeastern Europe by 10.5% to Euro173m although rising fuels costs dented its earnings. Market conditions remained ‘challenging’ in Egypt with demand for building materials in 2017 estimated to be about 8% below the previous year’s levels and prices still impacted by the low value of the Egyptian Pound. Overall, the group’s Eastern Mediterranean region saw its sales fall by 39% to Euro114m and earnings fell by 66% to Euro11.1m. Further issues were reported in Turkey due to competition but joint venture operations in Brazil saw faint improvements in the third quarter of the year.
Loesche supplying three mills for Egyptian Cement plant
16 October 2017Egypt: Loesche is supplying three vertical roller mills for the Egyptian Cement plant at Sohag. The scope of delivery includes a raw material mill with a capacity of 540t/hr of cement raw meal, a cement mill with an output of 350t/hr as well as a coal mill with an output of 45t/hr. The cement mill is equipped with a COPE (Compact Planetary Electric Drive) drive.
Sinoma subsidiary, the Chinese Chengdu Design & Research Institute (CDI), is the general contractor for the project. Loesche and CDI have worked together previously on projects in Egypt including ones for El Arish Cement and Beni Suef Cement.
Cimpor grows sales in first half of 2017 on back of Portuguese recovery
15 September 2017Portugal: Cimpor’s sales rose by 2.6% to Euro921m in the first half of 2017 from Euro897m in the same period in 2016. Recovery in the Portuguese market buoyed its sales despite continued issues in Brazil, Egypt and Mozambique. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 2.6% to Euro166m from Euro170m due to non-recurring costs. However, the cement producer said that, excluding these its earnings would have remained stable and would have even risen by 4% if CO2 permits management had been disregarded. Its cement sales volumes fell by 2.7% to 11.5Mt from 11.8Mt.
Egypt/Saudi Arabia: The Saudi Arabian Al Sharbatly Group is reported to be looking to invest up to US$3bn in Egyptian interests, including setting up a second clinker line at its South Valley Cement plant. Egypt’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr said that he welcomed all investors in Egypt after meeting with Sheikh Abdel Rahman al Sharbatly and Sheikh Fahd Al Shobokshy to discuss ways to increase their investments in Egypt.
Misr Beni Suef net profit slumps in first half
11 August 2017Egypt: Misr Beni Suef Cement made a net profit of US$3.13m in the first half of 2017, compared to a net profit of US$5.32m in the same period of 2016. This represents a 41% fall year-on-year.
France: Vicat’s earnings have been negatively affected by the devaluation of the Egyptian Pound and performance issues in Turkey. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 8.7% year-on-year to Euro188m in the first half to 2017 from Euro206m in the same period in 2016. Its sales fell by 0.8% to Euro1.25bn from Euro1.24bn. By business line its cement sales fell by 4.2% to Euro612m and its cement sales volumes declined by 2.6% to 10.8Mt.
“The Vicat Group’s first-half performance was affected by very unfavourable weather conditions in Europe, the US and Turkey, especially at the beginning of the year, and by a difficult macro-economic and industrial environment in Egypt. Other key regions such as India, the US and France recorded improvements. In a year that should be characterised by a very strong seasonality effect, Vicat now expects to benefit from a marked progression in its activities in the second semester,” said the group’s chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Guy Sidos.
Mondi to conduct due diligence review for Suez Bags
20 July 2017Egypt: The board of Suez Bags has approved Mondi Paper Sales to conduct a due diligence financial and technical review. The subsidiary of Austria’s Mondi was one of two companies considered for the review, according to Arab Finance. Suez Bags is a bag producer for cement, gypsum and other building materials based in Cairo. It is owned by Germany’s HeidelbergCement.
Qatar: Mohamed Ali al-Sulaity, the general manager of the Qatar National Cement Company, says that a blockade of the country by neighbouring states has not effected its cement production. Al-Sulaity said that the cement producer has secured supplies of raw materials and is importing gypsum and iron oxide from Oman, according to the Al Sharq newspaper. He added that bags are being imported from Kuwait.
The company says that it has a surplus of cement production and is able to meet the country’s demand. It plans to operate its 5000t/day kiln number 5 in September 2017 that will increase its clinker production capacity to 19,000t/day and its cement capacity to 21,000t/day.
Several Middle Eastern countries – including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt – cut diplomatic links and implemented trade and travel embargos with Qatar in June 2017 over alleged links to terrorist groups and links to Iran.
EMG to build US$300m cement plant in Egypt
14 June 2017Egypt: Islam Solaiman, the vice chairman of the Electro-Mechanical Design Group (EMG), says that the group plans to build a US$300m cement plant in Foukah, Marsa Matrouh. The plan follows the group securing cement licence prospectus documents and it has started preliminary studies, according to the Daily News Egypt newspaper. The plant will supply cement to the north-west Matrouh governate and it may export cement to Libya and other countries.