Displaying items by tag: France
Vicat profit increases by 6% in first half of 2014
05 August 2014France: Vicat Group's financial results for the first half of 2014 show consolidated sales of Euro1.22bn, a 6.1% improvement over the same period of 2013 and 10.8% higher at constant scope and exchange rates. Vicat's cement sales were up by 17.1% at constant scope and exchange rates.
The group's consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came to Euro208m, an increase of 3.1% in absolute terms and an increase of 8.8% at constant scope and exchange rates.
The cement sector remains Vicat's most important activity, accounting for 53.5% of income as opposed to 53.4% in the first half of 2013. Vicat highlighted that continued growth in India, West Africa and the USA, a return to growth in Egypt and favourable winter weather conditions in mainland Europe (especially France and Switzerland) helped drive its increased sales. It noted a fall in volumes in Turkey but this was partially offset by increased sales prices in that country.
"Over the first half, Vicat saw strong growth in business volumes and operating profit," states the group report. "Nearly all regions contributed to this performance, particularly Egypt which saw a return to growth, India, which saw significant progress despite continued competitive pressures and the USA, which is once again generating positive operating profits. In France, despite a promising first quarter helped by good weather conditions, performances were down slightly, due to a persistently unfavourable macroeconomic and sector conditions."
Lafarge reports 2% fall in EBITDA
25 July 2014France: Lafarge has posted another drop in quarterly sales and profit, mainly due to adverse exchange rates and its shrinking scale as it sheds assets to trim debt. It said that its planned merger with Holcim is on track and that its banks would give detailed information 'in the coming days' to potential buyers regarding the assets it plans to sell.
Lafarge's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 2% to Euro812m in the second quarter of 2014 as sales fell by 5% to US$3.37bn. Lafarge said that it expected a smaller impact from adverse foreign exchange rates on its performance in the second half of 2014, after a drop in both sales and EBITDA in the second quarter. Lafarge aims to bring debt below Euro9bn in 2014 and confirmed that it expected cement demand to grow by 2 - 5% in its main markets.
"The situation in North America is improving, growth continues in emerging markets and we see the first signs of recovery in Europe," said Lafarge's chief executive Bruno Lafont. He cited Poland, the UK and Greece as countries showing improvement. However, the construction sector remains subdued in France.
Thierry Legrand appointed as Lafarge’s senior vice president of transformation and acceleration
23 July 2014France: Thierry Legrand has been appointed as senior vice president of transformation and acceleration at Lafarge's head office in Paris. Legrand has been the chief executive of Lafarge South Africa for five years. Kenneth MacLean, who is currently Lafarge group's senior vice president for performance aggregate, will replace him from 1 August 2014.
During his time in South Africa, Legrand integrated the company's local cement, aggregates, ready-mix concrete, gypsum and fly ash business lines into a country organisation and drove its ambition of contributing to building better cities. MacLean said that he was excited to be in South Africa and looked forward to the challenge.
Vicat buys out Vicat Sagar in India
16 July 2014India: Vicat Group has purchased Sagar Cements' stake in Vicat Sagar Cement for US$72m, subject to customary conditions precedents. After this transaction, Vicat will own 100% of Vicat Sagar Cement. Together with the share purchase, the two groups will untie all their ownership links.
Vicat Sagar Cement operates a cement plant in North Karnataka with a cement production capacity of 3Mt/yr. The plant includes its own captive power plant and access to the rail network. Vicat's India operations, comprising Bharathi Cement and Vicat Sagar Cement, include two cement plants with a total production capacity of 8Mt/yr.
In 2013 Vicat reported sales of US$210m in India, a rise of 12.7% year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2014, sales in India rose by 27.2%.
France: Italcementi has reached the ownership threshold allowing for a squeeze-out of its French arm Ciments Français SA after a share purchase. With the latest acquisition of some 1.2m shares of Ciments Français, Italcementi has surpassed 95% of the share capital of the unit, while it had already secured 95% of the voting rights of the company in June 2014.
Italcementi's buyout bid for Ciments Français, which commenced on 13 June 2014, is worth Euro79.50/share, excluding dividend. Italcementi unveiled the final price of the offer for Ciments Français on 20 May 2014. It said at the time that it held 83.83% of the share capital and 91.03% of the voting rights of the unit and that its bid had a maximum total counter-value of some Euro464m.
Italcementi announced that it would initiate a squeeze-out procedure for the rest of the shares of Ciments Français at the offer price within three months from the completion of the bid. The move would be followed by the delisting of Ciments Français from NYSE-Euronext Paris.
Update: Italcementi has announced that the squeeze-out procedure for its French arm, Ciments Français, will commence on 15 July 2014 at a price of Euro79.50/share (net of all costs).
Currently Italcementi holds 97.73% of the share capital and 98.65% of the voting rights of Ciments Français and it intends to purchase the remaining 2.27% stake from minority shareholders. As agreed with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and in accordance with market practices, trading of Ciments Français shares have been suspended.
Italcementi launches Ciments Français buyout offer
13 June 2014France: Italcementi has announced that it will target the minority holdings of Ciments Français with a buyout bid of Euro79.5/share, excluding dividend, from 13 June - 3 July 2014. The announcement follows the receipt of regulatory clearance.
Italcementi unveiled the final offer price on 20 May 2014. The company said at the time that it held 83.83% of the share capital and 91.03% of the voting rights of Ciments Français and that its bid had a maximum total counter-value of some Euro464m.
The move is in line with a drive to increase Italcementi's capital and streamline the group's structure. It will use the proceeds from a capital hike of up to Euro500m to bankroll the recommended offer. In the event that Italcementi builds a stake of at least 95% through the tender offer, it would initiate, within three months from the completion of the bid, a squeeze-out procedure for the rest of the shares at the offer price.
France: Italcementi has set the final price for the buyout offer targeting the minority holdings in its French arm Ciments Français SA at Euro79.50/share, excluding dividend.
Italcementi, which currently owns 83.83% of the share capital and 91.03% of the voting rights of Ciments Français, has increased the bid by Euro3.00/share from the Euro78.00/share announced on 6 March 2014, which included a dividend of Euro1.50/share.
The price was boosted after taking into consideration the assessment by Ciments Français and its advisor, FINEXSI, the revised growth projections of the group and recent industry developments. The bid, which is in line with a drive to increase Italcementi's capital and streamline the group's structure, is to be launched in June 2014 and has a maximum total counter-value of some Euro463.5m. Italcementi will use proceeds from a capital hike of up to Euro500m to bankroll the offer.
Ciments Français' board noted that the price is deemed fair by the advisor and is in the high-end of the established valuation range. Moreover, the move is seen to allow Ciments Français to conduct its operations more efficiently, the board added. In the event that Italcementi builds a stake of at least 95% through the tender offer, it would initiate, within three months from the completion of the bid, a squeeze-out procedure for the rest of the shares at the offer price.
France: Lafarge's net loss has grown by 15% year-on-year for the first quarter of 2014, from Euro117m in 2013 to Euro135m in 2014. The company blamed the result on the 'seasonality' of its business and the effect of the variations of the net-of-tax gains and losses on divestments.
Overall sales across all business lines fell by 2% year-on-year to Euro2.63bn from Euro2.68bn. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 21% to Euro343m from Euro342m. Notably an improvement in EBITDA in the group's Western Europe region was noted.
"Our first quarter results confirmed the positive trends experienced at the end of 2013. Our volumes were supported by continuing growth in emerging markets and the progressive improvement in several European markets. North America was affected by a harsh winter but the underlying market trends are positive. Our outlook for the year is confirmed and we expect to see cement demand growth in our markets of between 2% to 5% in 2014," commented chairman and chief executive of Lafarge, Bruno Lafont.
For its cement business, cement sales volumes rose by 8% to 25.9Mt from 23.9Mt. Despite this rise in volumes, cement sales remained static at Euro365m for the quarter.
By region for its cement business, Lafarge reported static sales volumes for cement year-on-year for the quarter in North America due to adverse weather. Sales volumes rose by 7% to 2.6Mt in Western Europe with notable improvements recorded in Spain and Greece. Volumes rose by 19% to 1.9Mt in Central and Eastern Europe with increases in Poland and Romania but a fall in sales in Russia. In the group's Middle East and Africa region cement sales volumes rose by 15% to 10.5Mt. In Latin America sales volumes fell by 15% to 1.9Mt impacted by group divestment and deconsolidation in Honduras and Mexico, despite increase sales volumes in Brazil. In Asia sales rose by 7% to 7.5Mt.
Vicat sales up 14% year-on-year in first quarter of 2014
29 April 2014France: Vicat Group has announced its results for the first quarter of 2014, which show a 14% improvement to sales compared to the first quarter of 2013. The group highlighted improved conditions in Egypt, the United States, West Africa and Turkey, increasing sales in India and favourable weather conditions in its native France as among the reasons for the improvement.
Sales for the three months to 31 March 2014 were Euro536m, an increase of 9.2% (14% after adjusting for constant scope and exchange rates). Vicat's cement sector saw sales of Euro275m for the quarter, up from Euro256m in the first quarter of 2013, a year-on-year improvement of 7.4%(15.2% at constant scope and exchange rates). Cement sales volumes were up by 6% across Vicat's global operations.
"Vicat achieved strong sales growth in the first quarter of 2014. Our businesses benefited from mild weather conditions in France and were able to capture positive momentum in the Swiss, US and Turkish construction sectors," said Vicat's CEO Guy Sidos. "The return to growth in Egypt is a positive sign for our full-year performance and we are continuing to ramp-up our business in India, although prices are likely to remain volatile. The group is still gradually reaping the benefits of its investments over the last few years, using its strong market positions to maximise cash flow and continue reducing debt."
In Europe (excluding France) consolidated sales were Euro89m, 22.2% higher than the Euro72m seen in the first quarter of 2013. Switzerland was highlighted as a good performer, with 13% growth in cement sales, while Italy saw consolidated sales fall by 17.6% year-on-year due to a 19.2% fall in volumes.
In the United States, sales were Euro51m compared to Euro46m in the first quarter of 2013, a 9.5% rise year-on-year. The group said that business continued to pick up in the country, with cement sales picking up by 13.9% and volumes increasing by 3%.
In Turkey sales were Euro44m, 25.8% higher (at constant scope and exchange rates) than in the year-earlier quarter. In India sales came to Euro47m, 27.2% higher (at constant scope and exchange rates) year-on-year. In Kazakhstan sales fell by 14% to Euro9m (at constant scope and exchange rates), which resulted from comparison to unusually high sales in the first quarter of 2013.
In Africa and the Middle East Vicat's consolidated sales were Euro98m, a 12.9% improvement over the first quarter of 2013 when it took Euro87m. Egypt saw a 26.7% improvement year-on-year, while west Africa saw revenues up Euro11.6% due to a 14% improvement in sales volumes.
In the rest of 2014 Vicat expects the French market to gradually stabilise and the Swiss market to continue to be strong. Italy is likely to remain weak, while volume rises and price increasese are expected in the United States. In Turkey Vicat warns that further growth will be dependent on foreign exchange effects and potential after-effects of elections. It says that Egypt remains unpredictable but plans for gradual improvement to the security situation. West Africa is expected to be buoyant in terms of consumption but warns against increased competition that may dampen prices. In India, weak infrastructure development will continue to adversely affect volumes, as will chronic overcapacity in the nation's cement industry. In Kazakhstan, it expects its strong local position to continue to reap rewards.
Guy Sidos appointed chairman of Vicat Group
12 March 2014France: The Vicat board of directors has appointed Guy Sidos as the new chairman, in addition to his current position as chief executive officer. The board also appointed Jacques Merceron-Vicat as honourary chairman.
Sidos, aged 51, is the son-in-law of outgoing chairman and former CEO Jacques Merceron-Vicat. His appointment is intended to continue Vicat's independent outlook. Sidos is a graduate engineer of France's Navy School. After joining the Vicat Group in 1999 he held a number of operational positions, particularly in the US, before being appointed COO in 2004, then CEO in 2008. He will henceforth hold this position alongside that of chairman after the annual general meeting on 6 May 2014.