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A common refrain in the notes accompanying multinational corporate balance sheets are the adverse effects of currency exchange rates. So it goes this week with separate complaints from the Cement and Concrete Association of Malaysia and ARM Cement in Kenya. In Malaysia its local currency, the Ringgit, has fallen in value by 24% against the US Dollar since January 2015. The fall has been blamed on low prices for crude oil and for other commodities such as palm oil.

For the cement industry this is creating problems due to imported key inputs such as a coal and gypsum that are paid for in US Dollars. Similarly, clinker imports have risen by 20% as part of the same effect. The government hopes that infrastructure projects will prop up the construction sector for the time being. Local market leader Lafarge Malaysia has concurred with this cautiously. However, it is right to be realistic about the situation, as the problems with the falling value of the Ringgit seem to be reflected in its financial results.

Lafarge Malaysia has seen its revenue fall by 2.5% year-on-year to US$318m for the first six months of 2015 from US$326m for the same period in 2014. Net profit has fallen by 9% to US$32m. This follows a 3.8% year-on-year fall to US$640m for 2014 as a whole compared to US$666m in 2013. The drop in revenue was partly blamed on lower cement prices, aggravated by higher operating costs arising mainly from the increase in input and delivery costs. It also fits with the start of the fall in value of the Ringgit compared to the US Dollar since around the middle of 2014. Lafarge Malaysia's first half-year results in 2014 saw rises in revenue and net profit.

Lafarge Malaysia is far and away the market leader in cement production capacity in the country with a production capacity of 12Mt/yr, giving it a market share of nearly half the country's total capacity of around 25Mt/yr. However, it isn't the only cement producer struggling at present. YTL Corporation reported a 12.7% drop in revenue to US$3.85bn for its financial year that ended on 30 June 2015. Net profit fell by 31% to US$257m. Although the company operates across many business sectors, it too partly blamed the losses on its cement sector. This followed gains in profit, bolstered by its cement business, in the financial year that ended on 30 June 2014.

By contrast Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) Cement has benefitted from a construction boom in Sarawak state on the island of Borneo, a region separate from the rest of the country. On-going work on the Pan Borneo Highway has helped sales with other projects on the way. The sole producer with an integrated cement plant in the state ordered a cement grinding plant from Christian Pfeiffer in 2014 with commissioning planned for early 2016. It will be the company's third grinding plant in the state.

The effects of currency depreciation can be seen starkly in the financial results of Lafarge Malaysia and YTL Corporation. Infrastructure spending offers one route out of this as Lafarge are hoping and CMS Cement are experiencing in the relative isolation of Sarawak. However, a sustained low price of oil will test this even for a diversifying economy like Malaysia's. Cement producers in other oil producing nations should take note.

UK: Hanson UK's CEO Patrick O'Shea will step down in December 2015 after eight years at the head of the construction materials business. He will be succeeded by Daniel Cooper, who is currently Northern Regional General Manager for Hanson Australia.

O'Shea joined Hanson plc in 1990 and held a variety of senior financial and operational roles before becoming Chief Executive of Hanson Pacific in 2001. In 2003 he added responsibility for continental Europe to this role, becoming Chief Executive of Hanson Continental Europe and Asia. He was appointed Managing Director of Hanson Aggregates UK in June 2004. When Hanson plc was acquired by HeidelbergCement in 2007, O'Shea was appointed CEO of the combined UK business, which brought together Hanson's aggregates and building products operations with HeidelbergCement's Castle Cement business, to form Hanson UK.
His tenure encompassed the longest and toughest recession ever experienced in the construction industry.

"It's not been easy, but I have enjoyed the challenge of leading the company through this difficult period and into a position where I believe we are well placed to take advantage of the opportunities which lie ahead,' said O'Shea. "I am confident that the company has a bright future and I look forward to watching it prosper and grow."

Daniel Cooper joined Pioneer Concrete in Australia in 1993. Hanson acquired Pioneer in 2000 and Cooper has held a number of operational, commercial and customer service management roles, including Regional General Manager for Western Australia.

US: Blasch Precision Ceramics, a ceramic technology manufacturer, has announced the appointment of Stefan Frank as Sales Representative for molten metal, process heating, power and wear applications in Europe.

Frank is a global sales engineer with over twenty years of refractory application and business development experience working closely with customers throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East, often specialising in cement and lime applications. In his position with Blasch he will be working with customers throughout Europe and reporting to Werner Steinheimer, the Director of Market Development for Europe. Frank will serve customers in the non-ferrous and specialty alloy markets as well as those with wear and abrasion issues in mining, power generation and cement production.

US: Lehigh Cement Company, part of Heidelbergcement Group, has ordered a semi-mobile limestone crushing plant from Hazemag for its Union Bridge cement plant.

The plant will process up to 2500t/hour of limestone with a feed size of up to 2000mm. The material is discharged by means of a Hazemag apron feeder HAF 25160 from a 400t feed hopper. The fines in the feed material are screened at 100mm on a Hazemag roller screen HRS 2638.

The HAZEMAG primary impact crusher HPI 2230 crushes the material down to D99 < 125mm. The impact crusher is fitted with hydraulically adjustable impact aprons and grinding path that both retract in a controlled manner under excessive load. The system of the retractable grinding path is patented. The impact crusher HPI 2230 is also fitted with the automatic gap width control HAZtronic.

Zimbabwe: The Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) has issued Dangote Group with licences for three projects worth US$1.2bn, paving way for Aliko Dangote to start implementing business deals agreed with Government earlier in 2015. The three projects are a cement plant, a coal mining venture and an energy or power plant using coal off-take production.

Zimbabwe Investment Authority chairperson Nigel Chanakira said that construction of a cement plant would likely reduce the price of the commodity. "Without any shadow of doubt, from all indications this will be the largest plant, so it speaks to the dynamics in terms of competitive pricing in cement and the construction industry," said Chanakira. "Generally, housing building costs must come down."

He said that the ZIA wanted all licensed investors to start work immediately. "What we need now are very strong follow-ups to help anybody who has been licensed to make sure those licences are used and that they translate into real investment," said Chanakira. "In the past, we have been criticised that we approve projects and then people do not come. If you look at the trend, even in 2014, we have had the largest inflow in terms of foreign direct investment since 2006. In 2006 we had US$444m, in 2014 we reached US$545m. In 2015, the jury is still out. The year has not ended, but we are hoping that our numbers will go up to at least US$3bn."

Thailand: Siam Cement's net profit rose by 15% year-on-year to US$254m in the third quarter of 2015 as improved margins from petrochemical products outweighed weak performance of cement and packaging businesses, according to Reuters. However, profit fell by 19% quarter-on-quarter due to weaker chemical prices and inventory loss.

India: With one more cement terminal set to commence operations in November 2015 on the port premises and two more in the pipeline, Kochi, Kerala is set to emerge as a major cement hub in south India.

Cochin Port Trust sources said that the number of cement terminals at the port would go up to three with the Zuari Cement terminal set to commence operations in November 2015. This is in addition to the UltraTech and Ambuja cement terminals in operation already. Penna Cement has begun construction works and decks have been cleared for Malabar Cements to begin work on its proposed terminal. All of the terminals, excluding one, would be capable of raising their throughput to 1Mt over the years, according to Port Trust.

These terminals will not only increase income for the financially-troubled Cochin Port Trust, but also generate substantial employment involving evacuation of the cargo out of Kochi to various parts of Kerala. For every 10,000t of cement imported, the Port Trust will earn up to US$230,714/yr in both vessel and cargo related charges.

Figures show that cement throughput at the Kochi port has grown substantially between 2010 - 2011 and 2014 - 2015. Cement throughput was 2.59Mt during 2010 - 2011. It has gone up to 7.03Mt during the 2014 - 2015 financial year. Cement throughput almost doubled from 3.11Mt during 2012 - 2013 to 6.04Mt during 2013 - 2014.

South Korea: Sun Cement Co Ltd has placed another order for a Loesche vertical roller grinding mill to grind granulated blast furnace slag.

At the Mokpo cement plant in South Korea, in order to ensure more cost-effective production, plans have been made to replace the current outdated ball mill with a new grinding plant. For this reason, Loesche has been commissioned to deliver a LM 35.2+2 CS mill. The vertical roller grinding mill will produce slag cement with a fineness of 4600 Blaine, at a capacity of 45t/hr. The capacity of the gearbox will be 1600kW.

The delivery of the key parts to Sun Cement Co Ltd is planned for the end of 2015.

Kenya: ARM Cement has posted an after tax loss of US$4.62m for the first nine months of 2015 compared to a US$10.8m profit at the same period of 2014. The company said that the losses were largely attributable to the depreciation in regional currencies against the US Dollar.

ARM Cement's revenue for the first nine months of 2015 rose by 7% year-on-year to US$115m thanks to increased cement sales in Kenya and in Tanzania. While domestic cement demand grew by more than 10% during the period, "the sharp depreciation of both the Kenyan and Tanzanian currencies in the nine months has resulted in an unrealised exchange loss," said ARM Cement in a statement. "The fundamentals for continued economic and construction sector growth remain strong despite the recent currency depreciation and increase in interest rates."

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has successfully implemented the squeeze-out of Lafarge S A. With this, the shares of Lafarge S A are now delisted from Euronext Paris. The completion marks an important and final step in the merger process of the group's legacy companies and allows LafargeHolcim to continue focusing on delivering the synergies and progress with the integration.

With the successful squeeze-out, LafargeHolcim Ltd now owns 100% of the share capital and voting rights of Lafarge S A. Following the re-opened offer period, LafargeHolcim Ltd already held 96.41% of the share capital and at least 95.25% of the voting rights of Lafarge S A.

LafargeHolcim had offered the remaining shareholders of Lafarge S A a cash indemnification of Euro60 for each Lafarge S A share (net of costs) or a share indemnification of 9.45 newly-issued LafargeHolcim Ltd shares for 10 Lafarge S A shares. In this context, LafargeHolcim has issued a total of 633,776 registered shares with a nominal value of Euro1.85 each from authorised capital and acquired 10,086,921 shares of Lafarge S A for Euro60 each.