Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: HeidelbergCement has continued to benefit from its acquisition of Italy’s Italcementi. Its sales revenue rose by 2.1% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis to Euro17.3bn in 2017 from Euro17.1m in 2016. Its cement sales volumes increased by 1.1% to 126Mt from 124Mt.

“The challenges were numerous: energy cost inflation, increased competition in emerging markets, especially in Indonesia, uncertainties following the Brexit decision and bad weather, especially in the USA,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. “Nevertheless, we were able to increase our result from current operations as guided. The consistent focus on efficiency and margin improvement and the successful integration of Italcementi that led to higher than expected synergies contributed to this success. Overall, 2017 was a record year for sales volumes, revenue and result from current operations.”

The group reported increasing cement deliveries in all areas except Africa-Eastern Mediterranean in its preliminary results. In this region cement sales volumes fell by 0.6% to 19Mt from 19.1Mt due to a poor market in Egypt. Otherwise it described its market development in the region as ‘varied.’

Austria/Germany/Italy: The European Cement Research Academy (ECRA) has launched its oxyfuel carbon capture pilot projects at HeidelbergCement’s Colleferro plant in Italy and LafargeHolcim’s Retznei plant in Austria. The two locations were chosen form a shortlist of five sites. The pilots will test oxyfuel technology on an industrial scale. The test phase of the research is expected to cost Euro80m and the cement industry has contributed Euro25m towards this. ‘Substantial’ funding from European or national research schemes is being sought.

“The technical feasibility of oxyfuel technology can only be proven in real-scale application, but we have sufficient information from our research to believe that we will obtain a positive result after the trials” said Daniel Gauthier, chairman of ECRA.

France: Cem'In'Eu intends to open its first cement grinding plant in May 2018. The 0.24Mt/yr plant is located at Tonneins in Lot et Garonne, according to Les Echos newspaper. It has had an investment of Euro18m. The company is planning to open new grinding pants at the rate of one per year.

New locations include Chalon-sur-Saone in Saone-et-Loire, Portes-lès-Valence in Drôme, Montreuil-Bellay in Maine-et-Loire and Mulhouse-Ottmarsheim. Internationally the company is also considering new plants in London in the UK, Poland, Switzerland and Germany. Financing for the company is provided by Pergam, a French private equity firm that has already raised Euro33m.

Germany: Schenck Process has appointed Keith Cochrane as chairman and Harry Kenyon-Slaney as a member of its Advisory Board. The appointments follow the completion of Blackstone’s acquisition of the measuring and process technology equipment company.

Cochrane is currently the interim chief executive officer (CEO) of Carillion, prior to which he served as the CEO of the Weir Group, a manufacturer of highly-engineered products and services for the minerals, oil and gas and power industries. He joined Weir as Finance Director in July 2006 and was appointed CEO in November 2009. In 2015, Cochrane was appointed as the UK Government’s Lead Non-Executive Director for the Scotland Office and Office of the Advocate General. He is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Cochrane was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and appointed CBE in 2016.

Kenyon-Slaney is currently Non-Executive Chairman at Gem Diamonds having been appointed in June 2017. He holds over 33 years of experience in the mining industry, principally with Rio Tinto. Until 2015, Kenyon-Slaney was a member of the Group Executive committee of Rio Tinto where he held the roles of CEO of Energy, and before that CEO of Diamonds and Minerals. Kenyon-Slaney also serves as a senior advisor to McKinsey & Co.

In addition, Lionel Assant, Juergen Pinker and Saleh Panahi, all of Blackstone, have been appointed to the Advisory Board.

Germany: The former Portland-Zementwerke Gebr. Seibel’s cement plant at Erwitte in North Rhine-Westphalia has rebranded within the Thomas Gruppe. The name change follows the purchase of the plant and its limestone deposits by Thomas Gruppe in late 2017.

Germany: Wieland Hopfe has left Fritsch Milling and Sizing after 25 years with the company. He originally joined Fritsch in 1992 and helped the firm establish its distribution network in the former East Germany. Most recently he was working as an application specialist for Fritsch. The company is a manufacturer of application-oriented laboratory instruments for sample preparation and particle sizing.

Poland: BWF Envirotec Group has purchased Orwat Filtertechnik. Based in Mysłowice, Silesia, the company has been producing and distributing filter bags and filter pockets for dedusting and flue gas cleaning technology as well as pockets, cartridges and compact filters for air conditioning and ventilation technology since 1995. The company also has a sales office in Warendorf, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany giving it a European presence. No value for the acquisition has been disclosed.

"Orwat Filtertechnik, with its technologically outstanding equipment, is an excellent addition to our line-up with a high level of benefit for our customers, particularly for plant builders and operators of flue gas cleaning systems,” said Stefan Offermann and Philipp von Waldenfels, managing partners of BWF Group. They added that the acquisition also strengthens its Offingen-based headquarters.

Germany: Markus Bochynek is to leave the management board of Aucotec in April 2018. His responsibility for sales and marketing will be taken over by fellow board member Uwe Vogt. The other board member, chief executive officer (CEO) Horst Beran, will remain in post. The existing management team below the management board will assume some of the previous responsibilities and tasks of Vogt and Bochynek.

The engineering software company is also planning to build a new head office in 2018.

Germany: Franz-Josef Paus has been elected as the chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA) for the next three years. Paus, aged 55 years, is an executive at Hermann Paus Maschinenfabrik. He succeeds Johann Sailer, a managing partner of GEDA-Dechentreiter, who has decided to step down after a six-year tenure. The appointment of Paus was formerly announced at the association’s General Assembly in Dusseldorf. Joachim Strobel, the sales director of Liebherr Emtec, and Hermann Weckenmann, a managing partner at Weckenmann Anlagentechnik, will act as his deputies in the role.

Germany: Karl-Heinz Fiegenbaum has retired from Schade Lagertechnik. During a career spanning 47 years he became the managing director of the company in July 2011 with responsibility for the sales and commerce. Christoph Seifert, who joined the business as its Technical Managing Director in February 2015, will succeed him. Klaus Paul, who joined the company in March 2017, will become the new Technical Managing Director.