Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: Uwe Väth has assumed control over operations of the Schenck Process Group, effective 1 April 2015. In this role, he will be responsible for global manufacturing, supply chain and purchasing and will report to Andreas Evertz, president and CEO. At the same time, he will become joint managing director acting from the company headquarters of Schenck Process GmbH, which plays the leading and coordinating role for all European countries as well as Russia and parts of Africa. Uwe Väth comes from the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The appointment reflects the enormous importance of operations for the Schenck Process Group. In the future, Horst Klein will take on responsibility as the vice president of purchasing and thus ensure continuity and further development. In this capacity, he will report directly to Uwe Väth.

"Thanks to his comprehensive expertise and many years of experience in the area of operations, Väth will intensively drive the development of the Schenk Process Group forward. Through his activities as a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he has already gained insights into our company, meaning that both sides can seamlessly build upon this cooperation. I'm very pleased to welcome him as part of the management team," said Andreas Evertz.

As a graduate engineer, Uwe Väth worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers AG in Frankfurt am Main for many years, where he had been a partner since 2011. He had also built up the strategy and operations division and oversaw projects together with his teams in the areas of purchasing, supply chain, production and tool manufacturing, quality and logistics. International customers that are active in the areas of industrial production, process industry and plastics processing were catered to.

Germany: Haver & Boecker has announced that its newest generation INTEGRA® Form-Fill-Seal design system for filling tubular film bags with cement, building products, minerals, chemical products, food and feed stuffs, will be launched by the end of 2015. The largest system is designed for speeds of up to 3200bags/hr.

In addition to speed, the INTEGRA is also able to handle a broader range of fillable product types, weights and packaging types and materials. In addition to powders, granulates and micro-granulates, the system is also able to fill liquids and special products (such as flakes or products with pieces) into valve-type or plastic tubular film bags. Every type of packaging can be used independently of shape and material. The weight spectrum ranges from 1 – 50kg. 2000kg is possible with Big Bags.

"We can find a solution for almost every possible 'product – packaging – weight' combination, completely customised to suit customer wishes," said Robert Brüggemann, business unit manager of Haver Chemicals.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has reported a 26% decline in its 2014 net profit, reflecting a one-time loss and the absence of the prior year's gain. Operating income and revenues, however, increased on higher sales volumes and price increases in major markets. Further, HeidelbergCement announced higher dividend and said that it sees strong growth in fiscal 2015 results and sales volumes.

"We are confident about 2015. The outlook for the global economy is positive but there are still macroeconomic and geopolitical risks," said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board. "We will continue to benefit from the positive development in North America, the UK, Germany and Northern Europe. These countries generate almost 50% of our revenue. The results of the first two months in 2015 confirm our outlook."

In 2014 HeidelbergCement's profit plunged to Euro687m from Euro933m in 2013. The latest results were hurt by a non-recurring evaluation loss of Euro236m from the sale of the building products business, while 2013's results included Euro420m of non-recurring gains. Pre-tax profit fell by Euro91m to Euro931m. Operating income, however, grew by 5% on a reported basis and by 13% on a like-for-like basis to Euro1.6bn. Operating income before depreciation (OIBD) grew by 3% to Euro2.29bn, while its OIBD margin dropped to 18.1% from 18.3% in 2013. Revenue for the year totalled Euro12.6bn, up by 4% from Euro12.1bn in 2013. On a like-for-like basis, revenue growth was 8%. Cement sales volumes grew by 5% year-on-year to 81.9Mt.

HeidelbergCement expects to make Euro1.2bn of investments to upgrade and expand its capacities in 2015. New capacities of more than 5Mt/yr are set to be commissioned in 2015, primarily in Indonesia and sub-Saharan Africa. HeidelbergCement expects to significantly increase its revenue, operating income and net profit for the financial year in 2015. Cement sales volumes are also expected to grow, reflecting the positive development of demand and the commissioning of new capacities.

Germany: The Supervisory Board of HeidelbergCement AG has amended the structure of its managing board with the addition of a new deputy chairman position. Dominik von Achten, managing board member in charge of the North America group, group purchasing and the competence centre materials, assumed the role on 1 February 2015. It was also announced that Bernd Scheifele would continue as chairman of the managing board for the next five years.

"HeidelbergCement is very glad that both Scheifele and von Achten, together with the management and employees of the company, will continue their successful work of the past years. This step will guarantee continuity in the years to come as well as a trusting and constructive cooperation between supervisory board and managing board," said Fritz-Jürgen Heckmann, chairman of the supervisory board.

Germany: Around 27.1Mt of cement was used in Germany in 2014. This represents a 2.2% increase in consumption as compared with 2013. The German Cement Works Association (VDZ) is also predicting further growth for 2015.

"Significant catch-up effects from 2013 and mild weather really bolstered cement consumption, particularly in the first quarter of 2014," said Gerhard Hirth, president of the VDZ. However, the generally reserved economic climate had a dampening effect on construction investment over the rest of the year. "We experienced considerable increases in demand all year, mainly in housing," said Hirth. "In addition, due to the advantages of concrete construction in multi-storey buildings, cement manufacturers have managed to further increase their market share over recent years."

Domestic cement demand for cement was almost completely covered by German manufacturers in 2014. Just 1.2Mt, or 4%, was imported in 2014. Cement and clinker exports fell slightly year-on-year to 6.2Mt.

According to Hirth, the German cement industry has started 2015 with a positive outlook. "Due to the dynamic overall economic development and the continuing high demand for new housing, we are expecting growth of around 1% in cement consumption to approx. 27.3Mt in 2015," said Hirth.

Germany: Aumund Fördertechnik has announced that Robert Gruss has been appointed as its new Managing Director. He is responsible for sales, service and technology as well as for research and development. He has been in post since 1 November 2014. Gruss will also join Volker Brandenburg on the managing board.

Gruss, aged 49 years, joined Aumund from SMS Siemag AG. He started his professional career with SMS in 1995. For several years he worked in Italy, China and Belgium in managing positions.

During 2015 Aumund's president, Franz-W Aumund, will gradually retire from operational business. He will continue as managing director of Aumund Holding and as member of the advisory boards of the product and daughter companies. Primarily he will dedicate himself to steering and controlling the Aumund Group. Gruss will take over additional responsibilities from the managing Franz-W Aumund.

France/Germany: KORFEZ ENG has signed a contract with Italcementi for the supply of a new second compartment mill shell lining for one of its cement plants in France. The system is intended for a 3.8m diameter two-compartment raw mill. A total grinding compartment of 7250mm will be equipped with a combination of lifter and sorting liners. The design work will be carried out in the technical sales office in Neubeckum, North Rhine-Westphalia. Operation is expected to start in the summer of 2015.

KORFEZ ENG has also received an order from a building materials group in Germany for a dip tube cast lining system for its pre-heater, cyclone stage 2. The dip tubes will be executed as a locked hanging segment system tailor-fit to the existing dip tube. KORFEZ ENG determined the optimum material alloy for the application, which is being used for the first time. Manufacturing will be completed in about two months and delivery is planned for April 2015.

Germany: The Supervisory Board of HeidelbergCement has added the position of a deputy chairman to its managing board. Dr Dominik von Achten, member of the Managing Board in charge of the North America Group area, Group Purchasing and the Competence Center Materials, has been appointed Deputy Chairman of the Managing Board effective from 1 February 2015. At the same time, Dr Bernd Scheifele had his tenure as chairman extended until 2020.

Germany: HeidelbergCement's core profit rose by 1.7% in the fourth quarter of 2014 thanks to strong demand in the US and Asia. HeidelbergCement said that the weak Euro and the mild winter in Europe had also contributed to the profit increase. Operating income before depreciation (OIBD) increased to Euro625m in the three months to 31 December 2014. Revenue grew by 6.4% to Euro3.31bn. HeidelbergCement expressed optimism in view of the economic growth forecasts, but warned of geopolitical and monetary policy risks, which are difficult to estimate.

CRH has made good on its intentions. This week it stumped up Euro6.5bn to buy assets from Lafarge and Holcim in four continents. The move follows preparation since at least May 2014 when the Irish building materials group announced a divestment programme. In October 2014 it announced that it would sell its brickwork division.

CRH is finding the cash through a mix of existing cash, debt and equity placing. Interestingly, back in 2012 an Irish stockbroking analyst who was interviewed reckoned that the company could spend up to Euro3.5bn on acquisitions whilst remaining within its banking agreements. Throw in the recent sales and planned divestments and the planned acquisition from LafargeHolcim doesn't seem like too much of a stretch for CRH.

If completed, the purchase will see CRH take on 24 cement plants with a production capacity of 36Mt/yr. As a back of the envelope calculation suggests the sale price of Euro6.5bn isn't far off the occasionally used price of US$200/t for western cement production. The deal also includes aggregates, ready mixed concrete and asphalt assets.

The purchase marks a change in CRH's buying strategy both in terms of scale and distribution. Much of CRH's previous acquisitions have been minority shareholdings that make it difficult to accurately report the company's position in the cement industry. For example, in our Top 100 Report CRH was reported to have a production capacity of 6.49Mt/yr for majority shareholdings with another 19.9Mt/yr for minority shareholdings. The new cement capacity being purchased blows this away because it more than doubles CRH's total capacity and it appears to be all majority owned. CRH thinks that this will propel it to become the world's third biggest building materials manufacturer after LafargeHolcim and Saint-Gobain, leapfrogging Cemex and HeidelbergCement in the process. Strangely there is no mention of the huge Chinese players in the top five manufacturers in CRH's acquisition presentation.

CRH has avoided buying plants in southern Europe but it is relying on the slowly improving growing UK market, where CRH will pick up four plants, to balance the risk. Elsewhere in Europe, the three Holcim plants in France have been suffering from continued low construction rates in that country and the two Lafarge cement plants in Romania are unlikely to have recovered from a production fall in 2013. Outside of Europe growth has been poor in Quebec in 2013 and 2014, where CRH is buying two plants from Holcim. Both Lafarge and Holcim have also seen a slowdown in Brazil. However, the Philippines does seem like a better bet for CRH, with solid cement volumes growth seen by Lafarge in 2013 and the first three quarters of 2014.

With CRH now looking like a company that wants to produce cement rather than one that owns parts of companies that produce cement, all eyes are on the construction markets. 14 of the 24 cement plants CRH are buying are in Europe. Buying at the bottom of a sustained production slump makes sense because the asking price will be low. However, has the bottom been reached yet?