Displaying items by tag: GCW73
Lucky Cement: Profits up and progress abroad
26 October 2012Pakistan: Lucky Cement Limited has declared a profit after tax of US$21.0m for the quarter ending 30 September 2012, 33.8% higher than the same quarter of 2011 when it made a net profit of US$15.7m.
Gross profit for Lucky Cement, which is Pakistan's largest cement manufacturer, increased by a similar margin. This rose by 32.9% year-on-year as its net sales revenue improved by 18.1% to US$92.4m. Higher sales volume in the domestic markets, in line with the company's strategy gave rise to the increased profit.
Lucky's local sales volume during the quarter grew by 5%, rising to 0.86Mt compared to 0.82Mt sold during the 2011 quarter. However, its export sales volume declined by 9% from 0.62Mt to 0.56Mt. This was mainly due to intentional focus on the domestic markets, which increased the overall profitability of the company. The company also managed to decrease its financing cost by 76% compared to 2011.
Lucky has also reported that it had successfully sourced uninterrupted electricity from Hesco since 1 July 2012, averaging a supply of over 20MW/hr during the quarter. It said that this new source of electricity had helped to reduce Pakistan's power generation problems.
The company also reported progress with respect to its joint venture investment in a new cement plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where plant and machinery has been negotiated and finalised with a renowned European supplier, and on its joint venture investment for a grinding facility in Iraq, where the teams for the project have been mobilised at the site.
Oman Cement to increase grinding capacity and pollution control
25 October 2012Oman: Oman Cement is in the process of increasing its cement grinding capacity by installing an additional 15t/hr cement mill. The tender process has been initiated for building the plant, according to the company's chairman Dr Abdullah Abbas Ahmed.
Oman Cement is also planning to improve the pollution control equipment on its line 2 to control dust emission levels. It is in the process of identifying a consultant for this project.
Meanwhile, the company said that its net profit increased by 32.5% to US$30.4m for the first nine months of 2012, from US$25.2m for the same period of 2011. Its sales revenue also increased, to US$108.5m, compared to US$94.2m during the period.
The company has achieved sales of 1.69Mt for the first nine months of 2012 compared to 1.40Mt for the same period of 2011.
Italcementi bucks trend with Euro150m eco-investment
25 October 2012Italy: Italcementi has announced that it will invest Euro150m in order to revamp its cement plant in Rezzato, which was built in 1964. Italcementi has stated that it wants to turn the plant into the most modern and ecological cement plant in Europe, with work set to start in November 2012. It said that the opening of the adapted plant would be scheduled for some time towards the end of 2014.
Italcementi's CEO Carlo Pesenti said that the restructuring would lead to an improvement in the environmental and economic sustainability of the plant, as well as cutting production costs by 23% and reducing specific consumption of raw materials by 8%.