Displaying items by tag: Greece

Egypt: Greek-owned Titan Cement has made a major acquisition in buying the International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s 17.3% stake in Alexandria Development Ltd. Alexandria Development Ltd is 82.7% indirectly held by Titan Cement. It is the 88.9% owner of Alexandria Portland Cement, according to Mubasher. Alexandria Portland Cement made losses of US$4.56m in the nine months to 30 September 2019.

Greece: Titan Cement has increased its nine-month turnover by 9.7% year-on-year to US$1.21bn to 30 September 2019 from US$1.10m in the corresponding period of 2018. Net profit after tax fell by 9.9% year-on-year to US$45.3m from US$50.2m. The company noted progressive sales momentum growth throughout the period, with profitability in all regions except the Eastern Mediterranean, and projected further growth with the continued recovery of markets in Southeastern Europe.

Greece: Titan Group’s turnover rose by 10% to Euro785m in the first half of 2019 from Euro713m in the same period in 2018. The building materials producer attributed this to improving markets in Greece and Southeastern Europe, as well as continued ‘strong’ performance in the US.

Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) remained stable at Euro122m but its net profit fell by 46% to Euro13.3m from Euro24.8m. In its Eastern Mediterranean region the group described market conditions as ‘challenging’ with falling demand in Egypt and Turkey. In Brazil it said that cement sales volumes were stable but that revenue had risen due to an improving market.

Greece: Heracles Cement has agreed an electricity energy deal with the Public Power Corporation. The three-year deal with the state-owned energy company will start at the end of 2020. It includes a 10% increase in the rate. The agreement is also part of the country’s Greenpass scheme. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim operates two integrated plants in the country.

Greece: Titan Group has successfully completed a share exchange exercise between its subsidiaries. The voluntary share exchange tender offer was submitted by Τitan Cement International to the shareholders of Titan. Following the transaction Titan Group will be listed, through Titan Cement International, on Euronext Brussels, the Athens Exchange and Euronext Paris, on 23 July 2019. The company said the move would strengthen its international growth path and future outlook.

Greece: Titan Group’s turnover has benefited from the US market and growth in southeastern Europe. Its turnover grew by 12.5% year-on-year to Euro363m in the first quarter of 2019 from Euro323m in the same period in 2018. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 1.9% to Euro44.3m from Euro43.5m. It blamed its limited earnings growth on ‘challenging’ conditions in Turkey and Egypt.

The European Union’s (EU) verified CO₂ emissions figures were released earlier this week on 1 April 2019. The good news is that no cement plant is within the top 100 largest emitters. All the top spots are held by power plants, iron and steel producers and the odd airline. Indeed, out of all of the verified emissions, cement clinker or lime production only represents 7% of the total emissions. Of course this is too much if the region wants to meet its climate change commitments but it is worth remembering that other industries have a long way to go as well and they don’t necessarily face the intrinsic process challenges that clinker production has. If the general public or governments are serious about cutting CO₂ emissions then they might consider, for example, taking fewer flights with airlines before picking on the cement industry.

The EU emitted 117Mt of CO₂ from its clinker and lime producers in 2018, a 2.7% year-on-year decrease compared to 120Mt in 2017. This compares to 158Mt in 2008, giving a 26% drop in emissions over the decade to 2018. However, there are two warnings attached to this data. First, there are plants on this list that have closed between 2008 and 2018. Second, there are plants that provided no data in 2018, for example, all the plants in Bulgaria. Climate change think tank Sandbag helpfully pointed out in its analysis of the EU emissions data that industrial emissions have barely decreased since 2012. The implication here being that the drop from 2008 to 2012 was mainly due to the economic recession. Sandbag also made the assertion that 96% of the cement industry’s emissions were covered by free allocations in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) thereby de-incentivising sector willingness to decarbonise.

By country the emissions in 2018 from cement and lime roughly correspond with production capacity, although this comes with the caveat that emissions link to actual production not potential capacity. So, Germany leads followed by Spain, Italy, Poland and France. Of these Poland is a slight outlier, as will be seen below.

Table 1: Top 10 CO₂ emitting plants in the European Union in 2018. Source: European Commission.

Poland leads the count in the top 10 EU CO₂ emitting cement plants in 2018 with five plants. Greece follows with two plants. This list is deceptive as all of these plants are large ones with production capacities of 2Mt/yr and above. As it contains many of the largest plants in the EU no wonder the emissions are the highest. It is also worth considering that there are far larger plants outside of the EU.

In summary, as most readers will already know, the cement industry is a significant minority CO₂ emitter in the EU. Countries with larger cement sectors emit more CO₂ as do larger plants. So far, so obvious. Emissions are down since 2008 but this mostly seems to have stalled since 2012, bar a blip in 2017. The change though has been the rising carbon price in the EU ETS in 2018. Coincidentally the carbon price has been fairly low and stable since 2012. If the mechanism is working properly then changes should start to appear in 2019. Already in 2018 a few European cement producers announced plant closures and blamed the carbon price. Watch this space.

The Global Future Cement Conference & Exhibition on low and zero CO2 cement production will take place in Brussels, Belgium on 22 - 23 May 2019

Greece: Titan Group’s profit growth in 2018 due to by its US operations. However, negative currency exchange rate effects have dragged on its financial results. Overall, its turnover fell by 1% year-on-year to Euro1.49bn in 2018 from Euro1.51bn. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 5% to Euro260m from Euro273m. However, its net profit rose by 26% to Euro53.8m from Euro42.7m.

By region, the US region reported rising turnover and stable EBITDA in US Dollar terms. An improvement in results was recorded in Florida, counterbalanced the lower profitability of the mid-Atlantic region, which was affected by protracted inclement weather and an increase in competition in the broader New York area. The market remained poor in Greece with falling turnover and earnings. Markets in south-eastern Europe recorded increases, although rising energy costs wee a concern. Continued problems were reported in Egypt and Turkey due to additional input costs and market conditions respectively.

Greece: Titan Group’s share exchange offer between its subsidiaries has failed. It blamed this on a lack of ordinary shares being tendered despite the support of Titan’s core shareholders and its board of directors. The voluntary share offer was intended to help list its shares at exchanges in Brussels and Paris. The group said that its strategy remained focused on international growth. It added that broadening sources of funding and improving access to international capital and credit markets was an important priority.

Greece: Titan Cement says that its turnover, earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and net profit after taxes all grew year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2018. Overall, its second half results were better than in 2017. The growth mostly came from the US and South East Europe, but the company said that the situation in other regions has not shown any significant change. The cement producer made the announcement as it is undergoing a voluntary tender offer process.