Displaying items by tag: France

France: Titan Group has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire Vracs de L’Estuaire, which operates a grinding plant at the port of Le Havre in northern France. The acquisition would strengthen Titan’s presence in the French market, building on its existing operations in Marseille. The transaction remains subject to customary legal procedures and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.

France: The Lafarge group and several former senior officials will stand trial in Paris from 4 November 2025, accused of historically financing terrorist organisations, including Islamic State (IS). The aim of the alleged payments was to maintain operations at a cement plant in Jalabiya, northern Syria. The defendants include former CEO Bruno Lafont, five former managers and two Syrian intermediaries. They face charges of financing a terrorist enterprise and, for some, breaching international financial sanctions.

Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), the group’s Syrian subsidiary, is suspected of paying several million Euros between 2013 and 2014 to jihadi groups IS and Jabhat al-Nusra to secure raw materials and allow the movement of employees and goods. The €680m Jalabiya plant, completed in 2010, continued operating until IS took control in September 2014, two years after most other multinationals had left Syria.

An internal investigation in 2017 found ‘violations of Lafarge’s business code of conduct.’ Lafarge, which merged with Holcim in 2015, has said the events predated the merger.  In October 2022, Lafarge pleaded guilty in the US to paying IS and Jabhat al-Nusra nearly US$6m and agreed to pay a US$778m penalty.

Former CEO Lafont has denied knowledge of the payments. His lawyers argue that the US plea “is a blatant attack on the presumption of innocence” and aimed to “preserve the economic interests of a large group.”

So far, 241 civil parties have joined the case. “More than ten years after the events, the former Syrian employees will finally be able to testify about what they endured: the checkpoint crossings, the kidnappings and the constant threat hanging over their lives,” said Sherpa legal officer Anna Kiefer. Lafarge faces a fine of up to €1.125m for financing terrorism, while penalties for violating the embargo could reach ten times the value of the offence. A separate investigation into alleged complicity in crimes against humanity in Syria and Iraq remains ongoing.

France: Heidelberg Materials has launched a new range of its Socli lime product that contains hemp. The product is available in two binder and two coating formulations that combine natural hydraulic lime and plant fibres. Formulated for hempcrete bio-based concrete applications, on vertical walls or for insulating intermediate floors, its high lime content increases durability, according to the producer.

Heidelberg Materials says that the Socli lime range is especially suited to the restoration of historic buildings, as it guarantees breathable walls and healthy indoor air, and prevents mould, while providing thermal and acoustic insulation. The absence of cement further increases hygrometric regulation and thermal insulation.

France: Cement producer Eqiom has inaugurated a €2.5m pilot station for the continuous injection of alternative fuels at its Rochefort-sur-Nenon plant. The new facility enables the injection of wood fines - treated wood residues sourced from local sawmills - directly into the kiln at a rate of 5000t/yr.

The facility has reduced its coal use from 30,000t/yr to 8000t/yr. Currently, more than 70% of the plant’s kiln fuel comes from alternative sources, with the site now targeting 80%. Since the 1990s, the plant has successively used liquid chemical waste, animal meal and solid recovered fuels (SRF), which together accounted for 50,000t in 2024. Eqiom is also developing new cement types with lower clinker content by incorporating more pozzolans, as part of its broader decarbonisation efforts.

Pierre Bernard, Eqiom’s head of cement manufacturing, noted that national cement production fell from 20Mt/yr in 2022 to 15Mt/yr in 2024, equivalent to 1960 levels, due to a decline in construction activity.

France: Ecocem has inaugurated a new €10m research and innovation centre to advance its low-carbon cement technologies and accelerate industry decarbonisation. The 3300m² facility will focus on developing scalable solutions to reduce reliance on clinker. It will build on Ecocem’s ACT technology, which the company says already enables up to 70% emission reductions, with the aim of providing the cement sector with a pathway to net zero by 2040.

Donal O’Riain, founder and global managing director of Ecocem, said “For 25 years, Ecocem has focused exclusively on low-carbon cement technologies. With ACT, our scalable low carbon cement technology close to commercial availability, the new centre will allow us to go further and faster. We will build on the 18Mt of CO₂ reductions already achieved and accelerate the development of solutions that can deliver net zero cement by 2040, 10 years ahead of schedule.”

France: Switzerland-based F. Scott Group is seeking public opinion on its plans to build a new cement plant, named Coastline West, at the multi-bulk terminal of the port of Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire, according to Ouest-France. The €55m project, covering 6.4 hectares, is now under public consultation until 15 October 2025. Raw materials such as limestone and slag will be shipped in by boat and transported by truck to the site, with traffic reportedly expected at around 13 trucks per day. The proposed facility will employ 35 people once operational.

Finished cement will be shipped by both truck and rail, with construction expected to take 18 months, requiring around 50 workers on-site during the building phase.

France: Axians IAS has successfully implemented its VAS Yard Management software at its 1000th plant. The system is designed to digitise and optimise loading and logistics in the bulk materials industry. It went live across all 14 Heidelberg Materials France cement facilities, including nine production plants and five terminals. The 1000th site is Heidelberg’s Bruneseau terminal in Paris, where the software now manages fully automated truck loading without requiring on-site personnel. In the first week following the rollout, the 14 plants processed more than 3000 delivery notes involving both trucks and full trains.

Jean-Luc Degrange, project manager at Heidelberg Materials France, said “Planning and executing the rollout of this large-scale project across 14 plants was a unique challenge for our team and Axians. Together, we successfully completed this project. We congratulate Axians IAS on its 1000th implementation and wish them continued success with the next 1000 deployments.”

France: Lafarge France has signed a nuclear production allocation contract (CAPN) with EDF to secure a long-term supply of low-carbon electricity for its cement plants. The deal allocates part of the capacity from EDF’s operating nuclear fleet to Lafarge France for more than 10 years under a cost and risk-sharing mechanism tied to actual volumes produced.

The partnership aims to cover part of the electricity consumption of Lafarge’s most energy-intensive sites in France, reducing the company’s carbon footprint while ensuring competitiveness and local presence, according to EDF.

Xavier Guesnu, CEO of Lafarge France, said “At Lafarge, we are already activating all levers to reduce the carbon footprint of cement, from research and development to the industrialisation of new low-carbon products and the use of alternative energies, such as biomass. This partnership gives us visibility and access to decarbonised energy, which are essential elements for continuing our investments aimed at large-scale production of very low-carbon or even carbon-neutral cements.”

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies recorded revenues of €3.5m in the first half of 2025, up by 8% year-on-year, driven by increased cement sales volumes. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were -€5.7m, down from -€3.1m in the first half of 2024. Net income stood at -€8.4m, compared to -€5.0m in the first half of 2024, following higher depreciation and amortisation charges.

Production reached 19,640t, more than 2.5 times the 7833t produced in the first half of 2024, already exceeding total 2024 volumes. Cement was supplied to over 130 sites nationwide, producing more than 60,000m³ of clinker-free concrete delivered by 10,000 truck mixers. The company targets 50,000t of cement sold by the end of 2025 and positive EBITDA, subject to the signing of new licensing agreements.

Co-founders Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann said “The first half of 2025 was characterised by a significant increase in our production volumes. Unlike the first half of 2024, during which we received a €2m entry fee from our American partner, all of our half-yearly revenue for 2025 is generated from cement sales, reflecting its growing adoption within the construction sector. Finally, we reiterate all of our objectives for 2030 and are targeting sales of 50,000t by the end of 2025, with the second half of the year traditionally being more favourable to the company's activity.”

France: Vicat’s sales remained stable at €1.89bn on a like-for-like basis in the first half of 2025. This was attributed to negative currency exchange effects in Brazil, Egypt and Türkiye, and a slowdown in activity in the US. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 2% year-on-year to €331m from €353m in the same period in 2024. Cement and concrete sales volumes dropped by 2.5% to 13.7Mt and 3.9% to 4.4Mm³ respectively. Aggregates volumes rose by 5.8% to 11.3Mt. By region sales revenue and earnings fell in France yet rose in the rest of Europe and the Mediterranean. It fell elsewhere.

“The group continues to implement its market plan, with the start-up of Kiln 6 in Senegal, a major driver of the group’s organic growth, development in the construction chemicals business with the merger between VPI and Cermix, and the acquisition of Realmix, which strengthens the group’s vertical integration in Brazil,” said Guy Sidos, Vicat’s chair and CEO.