Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: ARVOS Group, the former Alstom Auxiliary Components business, has become a standalone corporation with Triton as its new shareholder. ARVOS Group is a global manufacturer of regenerative heat exchangers for thermal power generation facilities, process critical applications in the chemical and petrochemical industry and grinding mills. Over the course of the transition, the company's headquarters will be relocated from Mannheim, Germany to Heidelberg, Germany.

"As a standalone company, we are able to focus more effectively on strengthening our global market and technology leadership position in order to enhance thermal power plants through sustainable energy efficiency and the chemical industry through innovation," said ARVOS Group CEO, Thorsten Holl.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has reported that its profit for the second quarter of 2014 declined to Euro233m from Euro368m in the same period of 2013. However, earnings before interest and income taxes (EBIT) grew to Euro527m from Euro511m in 2013. Revenues for the quarter were Euro3.57bn, down from Euro3.59bn in 2013. HeidelbergCement's cement and clinker sales volumes rose by 4% to 22.3Mt compared to 21.4Mt during the second quarter of 2014.

HeidelbergCement announced that it plans to start a process to divest its building materials unit in September 2014 and expects to conclude the sale quickly. Potential buyers include private equity funds, not industrial enterprises, according to Bernd Scheifele, HeidelbergCement's CEO. Scheifele added that HeidlerbergCement would consider buying assets to be sold by Lafarge and Holcim, except for assets located in the UK and Germany.

Germany: Dirk Hoke took over as CEO of the Large Drives Business Unit of the Siemens Drive Technologies Division on 1 July 2014. Large Drives develops, manufactures and markets products, systems, solutions and services for drive engineering in industrial and infrastructure applications as well as sectors such as marine engineering, mining, cement, pulp and paper.

Hoke, a 45 year-old graduate engineer, joined Siemens in 1996 and started his career at the Transportation Systems Division. Subsequently Hoke held management posts in rail electrification, traction technology, and power supplies at Siemens locations in Germany and other countries. After serving for several years as CEO of Siemens' Cluster Africa and Siemens Morocco, in 2011 he took over leadership of the Industry Solutions Division before being appointed to head the Siemens Division Customer Services in October 2011.

Germany: HeidelbergCement intends to sell its building products business and has already contacted several banks about the deal. The division is expected to be sold for Euro1.1 – 1.5bn, according to the Financial Times. CEO Bernd Scheifele has been reportedly planning on conducting the sale for a long period. In the 2013 financial year the company's building products business saw its revenue fall by a tenth to Euro1.1bn.

Germany: Loesche GmbH has won the Deutscher Bildungspreis 2014 in the category 'Production: small and medium-sized enterprises,' for its training and management programmes. It beat 120 other companies to the award, which was awarded at a ceremonial event at the historic Munich Künstlerhaus on 12 May 2014.

The Deutscher Bildungspreis is presented annually by TÜV Süd Academy and EuPD Research Sustainable Management under the motto 'Learning from the best.' In four sector categories, companies are awarded for best education and talent management under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

"Loesche owes this success to the instruments of the demand-oriented personnel development introduced in 2008 as well as the close cooperation with the Loesche Training Center and the benefits for the staff associated with this," said Christian Trzeczak from Loesche's Corporate Human Resources department. "This result will further consolidate the employer brand Loesche and shows that we are on the right track towards a productive personnel development in the company."

Germany: Gebr. Pfeiffer has announced new orders for mills in Turkey, Iraq and Malaysia.

In Turkey, Bilim Makina has ordered four mills for a cement plant in Elazig. The order covers an MPS 250 BK roller mill with a drive power of 500kW for coal grinding and two safety shut-off dampers. The mill is designed to yield 35t/hr of petroleum coke, with the material being ground to a fineness of 3.5% R90 µm. A MPS 5000 B mill will be used for cement raw material grinding. The mill featuring a drive power of 3800kW will be capable of producing 470t/h of cement raw material ground to a fineness of 12% R 90µm. Two MPS 5000 BC vertical roller mills will be used for cement grinding. Each of the mills features a drive power of 4400kW and will grind 200t/h of Ordinary Portland Cement with a specific surface of 3400cm²/g acc to blaine. All four mills are scheduled to be delivered in the spring of 2015.

In Iraq, Sinoma Suzhou Construction, acting as general contractor, has ordered two MVR 6000 C-6 cement mills. The two MVR cement mills will come equipped with a conventional drive with an installed power of 6000kW. They will grind various cement qualities to the required fineness degrees between 3600 - 5500cm²/g depending on the product type, achieving capacities of 132 - 210t/hr. The cement mills are scheduled to be delivered at the end of 2014.

In Malaysia, Sinoma subsidiary Tianjin Cement Industry Design & Research Institute (TCDRI) has ordered one MPS 2800 BK coal mill for YTL Cement. Featuring an installed power of 700kW, the coal mill will be grinding 35t/hr of a sub-bituminous coal with a total moisture content of 25% to a product fineness of ≤10% R 90µm. The delivery of the mill is scheduled for the end of 2014.

Germany: Holcim has received unconditional clearance by the European Commission (EC) for its proposed acquisition of Cemex West in Germany. The decision follows a detailed Phase II review by the EC. Closing of the transactions is expected for the second half of 2014.

The acquisition in Germany is part of Holcim's strategic portfolio optimisation in Europe that includes a series of transactions together with Cemex, which is separate from the intention to merge with Lafarge.

Holcim said that the decision marks a further milestone towards the optimisation of its strategic portfolio in Europe, which was announced in 2013. It will allow Holcim to create value through an optimised footprint in north-western Germany. It will also allow it to further improve the service and support of existing and new customers.

The transaction includes one cement plant and two grinding stations with a total cement production capacity of 2.5Mt/yr, one slag granulator, 22 aggregates locations and 79 ready-mix concrete plants. They would be combined with Holcim's existing Northern German operations.

Germany: The European Commission (EC) is expected to give the green light to Holcim's planned acquisition of Cemex's German operations without conditions, according to Reuters, which cited two knowledgeable sources.

The transaction is part of several interconnected deals between the companies that were agreed in August 2013. The EC is currently examining the agreement to determine whether it could threaten competition and prompt price hikes. Its decision is due by 8 July 2014.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cemex will combine its cement, ready-mix and aggregates operations in Spain with those of Holcim and will hold a 75% stake in the enlarged firm. In addition, Cemex will take over Holcim's operations in the Czech Republic. Holcim will spend a total of Euro70m in cash on the deals.

In April 2014 the EC started an in-depth probe into Cemex's deal with Holcim in Spain and is due to unveil its decision until 5 September 2014. The local anti-trust watchdog approved the transaction in the Czech Republic in March 2014.

Germany: KHD has reported that it has started two modernisation projects for HeidelbergCement's cement plant in Lengfurt, Germany. These projects include the modernisation of the raw meal grinding unit with KHD SKS VC 3000 dynamic separator and the modernisation of an existing preheater with KHD's new PH5835 cyclones.

KHD's responsibility includes manufacturing, erection and commissioning for both projects. The raw meal grinding unit has been in operation since its successful installation in April 2014 and the installation of the new preheater cyclones is scheduled to begin in the winter of 2015.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has announced that its revenue and sales volumes increased in the first quarter of 2014, although it still made a loss for the period.

Revenue was up by 5.7% year-on-year for the quarter at Euro2.75bn, compared to Euro2.60bn in the first quarter of 2013. Operating income before depreciation (OIBD) was Euro229m, a 15.6% increase from Euro198m. The German multinational reported successful price increases and improved cost control as reasons behind the improved takings. Despite this, the group still reported a net loss of Euro108m for the period, although this constituted an improvement on the Euro187m that it lost in the first quarter of 2013.

HeidelbergCement reported that sales benefitted from warmer than usual weather in Europe. In North America sales volumes were adversely affected by the extremely low temperatures seen as the result of the polar vortex weather phenomenon. Elsewhere, the group reported that Asian and African markets 'continued to develop positively.' Across all of its markets, cement and clinker sales volumes rose by an average of 10% with Europe and Central Asia both reporting double-digit growth.

"Business development in the first quarter has strengthened our confidence in the outlook for the 2014 financial year," said HeidelbergCement's CEO Dr Bernd Scheifele. "Deleveraging in order to regain investment grade rating remains the highest priority for us. To this end, we will continue to be very disciplined in our spending in 2014 and focus more intensively on the sale of the building products business line in the United Kingdom and North America as well as other assets that do not belong to our core business. At the same time, we will remain on course with our successful strategy of targeted expansion of our cement capacities in growth markets."

Going forward, HeidelbergCement expects that North America will see a continuation of its economic recovery and some stabilisation in Eastern Europe. Further rises in demand are expected in Central Asia. In Western Europe, the group expects healthy growth in demand based on the strong fundamentals in Germany, the UK and Benelux.