Displaying items by tag: LafargeHolcim Maroc

Morocco: The Moroccan Cement Association (APC) has elected Said El Hadi as its president. He succeeds Khalid Cheddadi in the role, according to Les Echo newspaper. El Hadi is the president of LafargeHolcim Maroc. The APC represents cement producers in the country including Asment Temara, Atlas Cements, Ciments du Maroc, LafargeHolcim Maroc and Novacim. The members of the association operate 14 plants with a production capacity of over 24Mt/yr.

Morocco: LafargeHolcim Maroc’s sales were US$377m in the first half of 2022, consistent with its first-half 2021 sales, according to the L’Economiste newspaper. In the second quarter of 2022, the producer’s sales fell by 7% year-on-year to US$181m. It attributed this to a drop in its cement sales volumes, amid a national decline in demand of 10% year-on-year during the quarter. During the first half of 2022, Moroccan cement demand declined by 4.5% year-on-year. LafargeHolcim Maroc said that this was the result of global economic factors.

The producer’s net debt was US$590m on 30 June 2022, up by 5% year-on-year.

Morocco: LafargeHolcim Maroc is preparing to export clinker to West Africa in early July 2022. The shipment will be the plant’s second clinker export following a consignment of 40,000t to Guinea, according to the Les Eco newspaper. The plant, based near Tidsi, has been operational since late 2021.

Morocco: Holcim subsidiary LafargeHolcim Maroc has released information about its 1.6Mt/yr Agadir cement plant in Souss-Massa Region. The producer invested US$299m in the plant’s construction and it has been operational since late 2021. The plant is highly automated in line with Holcim’s Plants of Tomorrow strategy. It will run off wind power from 2023, and also uses alternative fuel (AF). 200 people work at the plant.

In conjunction with its work in setting up the new cement plant, LafargeHolcim Maroc developed drinking water networks in the surrounding area, including the construction of three solar-powered water towers.

Cameroon: A delegation of LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique representatives has met Minister of Commerce Luc-Magloire Mbarga Atangana to ask him to raise the legally enacted price of cement. The company says that its subsidiary Cimencam’s costs have risen by US$3.58 – 5.37m due to increased clinker prices. This has reportedly resulted in increased costs per bag of US$2.15.

Mbarga Atanga told the World Trade Organisation that clinker prices doubled and gypsum prices rose by 60%year-on-year in the first half of 2021. The Ministry of Commerce previously raised cement prices in 2011.

Morocco: Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim subsidiary LafargeHolcim Maroc has recorded a profit of Euro161m in 2019, up by 7.5% year-on-year from Euro149m in 2018. Its sales held steady at Euro744m. The company says that it ‘does not anticipate any significant change in market conditions’ in 2020. Its new Agadir-Souss grinding plant is scheduled to come online in 2020.

The agreement this week by Ciments du Maroc to buy two production projects from Anouar Invest Group marks a consolidation phase in the local market. The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement has struck a deal to acquire Atlantic Cement’s 2.2Mt/yr integrated plant project in Settat province and the Les Cimenteries Marocaines du Sud (CIMSUD) 0.5Mt/yr grinding plant at Laâyoune, which was only recently commissioned.

Graph 1: Cement sales and production capacity in Morocco, 2013 - 2018. Source: L’Association Professionnelle des Cimentiers (APC) & Global Cement Directory 2019.

Graph 1 gives an impression of the market conditions the cement producers have faced over the past five years. Cement sales hit of a high of 16.1Mt in 2011 following increasing growth in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Cement sales have since wilted, while production capacity has increased pushing down the capacity utilisation rate. The capacity utilisation dropped below 55% in 2018, using Global Cement Directory 2019 data, although other sources have placed it at around 60%.

Local production is dominated by two multinational producers, LafargeHolcim (LafargeHolcim Maroc) and HeidelbergCement (Ciments du Maroc), and a local company, Ciments de l’Atlas (CIMAT). CIMAT is owned by Addoha Group and it also operates Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) with plants across West Africa. A fourth player, Asment de Témara, run by Votorantim, also operates an integrated plant.

LafargeHolcim Maroc’s turnover fell by 2% year-on-year to US$837m in 2018 along with a drop in consolidated net income of 18% to US$201m. It attributed this to lower sales and growing petcoke costs. Ciments du Maroc’s turnover fell slightly to US$419m but its net profit rose by 3% to US$108m. This followed a generally positive year in 2017 due to a strong second half of the year. It blamed the instability on a poor real estate market. CIMAT managed to raise its sales in 2018 by 6% to US$300m and its income by 1.4% to US$90.7m.

Anouar Invest Group’s decision to sell up may mean that its attempt to break into the cement market has failed. Who can blame it given the market conditions. Although, who knows, HeidelbergCement may have made it a great offer. HeidelbergCement’s gambit is also interesting because, in February 2019, it reduced its stake in Ciments du Maroc by 7.8% to 54.6% signalling less confidence in the country.

Yet, cement sales started to improve in the first quarter of 2019 with consecutive month-on-month improvements. Neither is Anouar Invest Group the last company to try its luck with cement production in Morocco. In June 2019 FLSmdith announced that TEKCIM had ordered a US$45m cement plant from it and Société Générale des Travaux du Maroc. The grinding unit has a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr. Clearly, despite a market with production overcapacity, companies are sensing opportunities with the cement grinding model.

Cameroon: Cimencam, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim via LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique (LHMA), has announced that it will build a 0.5Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Nomayos, near Yaoundé with a budget of Euro42.6m. The plant will be the cement producer’s third in the country, according to the Échos Quotidien newspaper. Cement from the new plant will be sold locally as well as elsewhere in Central Africa. LHMA owns a 54.74% share in Cimencam.

Benin/Cameroon: LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique has purchased a 50% stake in SCB Lafarge Benin and 54.7% in Cimencam in Cameroon. Amounts for the deals have not been disclosed, according to the Ecofin Agency. LafargeHolcim Maroc Afrique, a joint venture between Lafarge Holcim and the Société nationale d’investissement also bought Socimat in Cote d’Ivoire in July 2016.

SCB Lafarge in Benin produces about 600,000t/yr of cement and Cimencam produces 1.7Mt/yr. The new acquisitions are part of LafargeHolcim’s expansion strategy across Africa. Countries with high growth potential such as Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Congo, DRC and Senegal have also been targeted.

South Korea/Saudi Arabia/Morocco: LafargeHolcim has confirmed plans to divest its assets in South Korea and Saudi Arabia and to enlarge its presence its Morocco. The announcement was made as part of the release of its annual results 2015. The sales form part of the group’s Euro3.2bn divestment program

In Morocco, the group signed an agreement with SNI, its partner in the country, at the same time as the Lafarge-Holcim merger to enlarge its joint-venture by merging Lafarge Ciments Maroc and Holcim Maroc to create LafargeHolcim Maroc. LafargeHolcim and SNI would own a 64.7% stake in the new company once the merger is complete. The group expects to gain a synergy savings of Euro41m over two years from the merger.

LafargeHolcim and SNI also agreed to create a common platform in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa. The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016 subject to regulatory authorities’ approval, customary closing conditions and the approval of the shareholders of Lafarge Ciments Maroc and Holcim Maroc.

In South Korea, the group has confirmed that it has signed an agreement with a consortium of private equity funds - Glenwood and Baring Asia - for the divestment of Lafarge Halla Cement in South Korea for Euro427m. The sale is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2016. Lafarge Halla Cement runs one 8.3Mt/yr integrated cement plant, a distribution network across the country and has around 500 employees.

In Saudi Arabia the group has signed an agreement for the sale of the Group’s 25% stake in Al Safwa Cement Company to El-Khayyat Group for total proceeds of Euro120m. This transaction is expected to close in the course of the third quarter of 2016.