Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: HeidelbergCement has announced its results for the first quarter of 2016. While its revenue was completely flat at Euro2.8bn, cement volumes rose from 16.8Mt in the first quarter of 2015 to 17.6Mt in the first quarter of 2016. However, the group maintained an operating loss of Euro72m, albeit a significant improvement on the Euro123m lost a year earlier. HeidelbergCement’s net debt was down by Euro237m to Euro5.9bn.

The group highlighted improving demand in the US as among the reasons for its improved performance. Cement volumes increased by 6% year-on-year in each of the two years to March 2016. Revenue in the US and Canada was Euro714m, a rise of 14.6% year-on-year. Net income for the region was Euro24m, a turnaround from a loss of Euro18m in the first quarter of 2015.

In Western Europe, positive cement sales trends were led by Germany and the UK, with the Netherlands and Belgium also contributing well. Cement sales in the region were up by 3.1% year-on-year for the quarter to a total of 3.4Mt. Volumes were also up in Scandinavia (1.7% year-on-year), Eastern Europe (6.6%) and in the group’s Central Asia, Russia and Ukraine region (0.7%).

In Western and Southern Europe revenue was down by 2.1% to Euro683m. The region, however, saw a loss of Euro8m for the quarter. Cement sales revenue improved by 1.8% to Euro290m, against a backdrop of falling aggregates, ready mix and asphalt revenues.

In North and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, cement volumes were 2.9% up year-on-year to 3.9Mt. Revenue for the region was Euro420m, a rise of 9.7% year-on-year, with cement revenues up nearly 7% to Euro225m. The group’s net loss in this region increased marginally, to Euro28m from Euro25m a year earlier.

In the group’s Asia-Pacific region, Indonesia saw better market conditions, driven by the arrival of new infrastructure works. India saw moderate increases in volume and Australia also improved. China saw lower prices and sales volumes. The total volume of cement sold in the region during the quarter was 5.8Mt and the region’s revenue was Euro637m. This generated a profit of Euro120m, a 18.8% decline on the preceding year’s profit of Euro148m.

In Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean Basin cement volumes were virtually flat at 1.9Mt. Total revenue was slightly down from Euro252m in 2015 to Euro240m in the three months to March 2016. Revenues from cement-based operations were down by 8.7% to Euro177m.

Excluding exchange rate and consolidation effects, HeidelbergCement now expects a moderate increase in revenue and a high single to double digit increase in operating income and before non-recurring effects profit for the financial year. The company also expects increases in sales volumes of cement, aggregates and ready-mixed concrete.

Germany: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has received a contract from HeidelbergCement to supply a new cement clinker production line. The 4500t/day line will be built at the Schelklingen cement plant in Baden-Württemberg as a replacement for an existing older production line. Start of production is planned for spring 2018.

“Although most of the cement contracts we have been awarded recently have been to build new production capacities in growth regions, this order shows that there is also demand in Europe to modernize and expand existing facilities. Our highly efficient technologies, which we continually improve together with our customers, guarantee maximum reliability and allow producing innovative products in an economical and environmentally friendly way,” said Lothar Jungemann, CEO of the Cement operating unit in the Resource Technologies business unit of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions.

For the new kiln line ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions will supply components including a five-stage, single-strand DOPOL preheater, a POLRO rotary kiln with a POLGUIDE drive system and a POLYTRACK clinker cooler with roll crusher. The design of the calciner used in the preheater is intended to allow high fuel burnout with low nitrogen oxide emissions. The POLYTRACK cooler also features a highly efficient heat recovery system that minimizes fuel input.

Germany: Pascal Jager has joined Trapo AG as its international sales contact for French-speaking areas. Jager, aged 47 years, is a machine building engineer who brings technical competence from the automotive, packing and food sectors.

Trapo is a specialist in conveying technology, robotic systems and automation and it develops, manufactures and commissions production systems. The special, intelligent components of the conveying and handling systems are manufactured in Gescher-Hochmoor.

Germany: IKN has placed an order for a A TEC GRECO kiln burner for the HeidelbergCement’s cement plant at Burglengenfeld. The project will be completed by the end of 2016. It is part of a general upgrade being conducted at the plant by IKN.

The scope of A TEC GRECO’s supply includes the engineering, design and manufacturing of a tailor-made combustion system including the required peripheral systems for operation. The burner thermal power will be 75MW. The burner is intended use with lignite, sewage sludge, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), diesel and solvents.

A TEC GRECO is a subsidiary of A TEC specialising in burners for kilns and calciners.

Germany/Italy: HeidelbergCement has released details on how it will integrate Italcementi into its business. Key details of the plan include the sale of Italcementi’s Belgium operations, the retention of the Italcementi brand and headquarters and the Italian cement producer’s i.Lab centre will assume research and development responsibilities for the entire group. However the acquisition is expected to result in up to 260 job losses at Italcementi’s base in Bergamo. The full integration plan is expected to be complete by 2020.

“Following our motto ‘all business is local’, it is important for us to preserve Italcementi's strengths and professional expertise, which have ensured its success in Italy and abroad. I am convinced that we will be able to achieve the planned Euro400m in synergies and bring Italcementi back to profits by operational improvements, streamlining the administration and leveraging the increased size of our combined business,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement.

The acquisition still depends on approval from the European Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. On 1 April 2016, HeidelbergCement formally submitted the merger plan to the European Commission.

To this end, HeidelbergCement has decided to sell Italcementi’s entire Belgian operations, primarily consisting of Italcementi’s Belgian subsidiary Compagnie des Ciments Belges. The proposed divestment would remove all overlaps between the activities of HeidelbergCement and Italcementi in Belgium and the Netherlands. Preparations forthe divestment have already started and ‘significant’ interest has been noted. BNP Paribas will support the process.

The plan presented in Bergamo by Scheifele says it intends to keep the industrial network and plants in Italy as well as the Italcementi brand. In addition, HeidelbergCement builds on Italian management heading the Group's operations in Italy. i.Lab, based in Bergamo, where Italcementi will keep the headquarter of Italian country organisation, will become the home of the product research and development division of the whole group.

In order to streamline the overall group organisation some staff and administrative functions will be centralised in Heidelberg. According to the integration plan around 170 people will receive relocation offers to other offices within the group. Any redundancies in Bergamo, which could potentially affect between 230 and 260 people, will be handled using Italy's temporary layoff scheme. In addition, severence packages will be negotiated with the unions. At the end of the transition period in 2020, about 210 to 250 professionals will remain in Bergamo.

HeidelbergCement expects the closing of the acquisition of the 45% stake to be finalised in early July 2016 depending on the decision of the cartel authorities in Europe and the USA. Implementation of the integration plan will start after the closing. 

Germany: Rheinkalk GmbH has commissioned Silobau Thorwesten to supply a large capacity silo to its Flandersbach lime plant. The silo was originally commissioned in March 2015 and is due to become operational in March 2016. The 42m silo has an explosion pressure shock resistant design and is equipped with ATEX-conform explosion vents and de-dusting filters from associate company Thorwesten Vent to handle combustible pulverised coal.

The scope of supply for this 1100m³ capacity silo also includes a discharging station for silo trucks which can convey the material pneumatically by rotary piston fan via the silo roof. A dust collector assists the filling process. Additionally, the new silo has a continuous weighing system with weighing cells and separately controllable fluidisation devices on two silo outlets. These installations help feed combustible material into the dosing system. For the circulation operation there is also a duct protected by a shut-off valve.

Besides planning and delivery of the main and sub-systems of the new silo, Silobau Thorwesten also handled the design and erection of the entire steel constructions, as well as the integration of the components into the existing process chain.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has issued a Eurobond with a value of Euro1bn and a maturity date of 30 March 2023. The international bond has a fixed coupon of 2.25%/yr.

The proceeds from the bond will be used to pre-fund the upcoming Italcementi acquisition and other general corporate purposes. Subsequently, the bridge financing for the takeover will be reduced from Euro2.7bn to Euro2bn. The bridge financing will be refinanced by free cash flow, the sale of production sites and the issuance of bonds.

Germany: Johan Cnossen has resigned as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Management Board of KHD with immediate effect from 11 March 2016. He cited personal reasons. Other Management Board members will take over his responsibilities for an interim period.

Germany: The 14th REFRA-Kolloquium will take place on 31 May to 3 June 2016, at the Estrel Hotel & Convention Centre in Berlin. Industry experts and specialists will gather for a series of presentations on technical developments in the cement and refractory industries. The event will also include a panel discussion and a related exhibition.

The REFRA-Kolloquium events are organised by Refratechnik, a manufacturer of refractory materials for the cement industry. In 2012 almost 800 participants from 70 countries attended the REFRA-Kolloquium.

Germany: Clariant Germany has purchased the first mobile Loesche grinding plant to grind bentonite at its Balikesir facility in Turkey. Clariant required a mobile plant because the site is due to be relocated. The mill is integrated into seven ISO containers, all the electrical connections between the containers are pluggable and no foundations are required for its erection on solid ground. The mill is expected to be commissioned in May 2016.

The vertical roller mill uses a type LM 9.2 D mill, it is designed for grinding industrial minerals and it has a capacity of 1.8t/hour. The Balikesir facility grinds bentonite, which is ground to a fineness of 30% R 0.063. The grinding plant has a power transmission capacity of 45kW. All grinding plant components from the open loop control to the feed bin, the crusher, the mill with classifier, the hot gas generator, the filter, the fan and the pneumatic product transport are placed in containers.

Clariant is a global leader in specialty chemicals. Its headquarters are in Muttenz near Basel in Switzerland.