Displaying items by tag: Results

Australia: James Hardie recorded sales of US$3.61bn in its 2022 financial year, up by 24% year-on-year from US$2.91bn in its 2021 financial year. The group’s North American fibre cement sales rose by 25% to US$2.55bn from US$2.04bn. Its Asia Pacific fibre cement sales rose by 22% to US$545m from US$446m, while its Europe building products sales rose by 20% to US$421m from US$351m.

Interim chief executive officer Harold Wiens said, “I am delighted to report that the James Hardie team has continued to deliver strong execution of our global strategy. This is reflected in strong price/mix growth in all three regions, including North America price/mix growth of 12%, Asia Pacific price/mix growth of 11% and Europe price/mix growth of 14%. The global team’s success in delivering high value products is the result of: one - enabling our customers to make more money by selling more James Hardie products; and two - marketing directly to the homeowners to create demand for our high value products through our customers.”

The group reaffirmed its 2023 financial year adjusted net income guidance range of US$740 - 820m.

Germany: Schenck Process’ first-quarter sales increased by 21% year-on-year to Euro187m in 2022, led by an ‘outstanding performance’ in its Americas region, according to the company. The company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter were Euro20m, up by 9.3% year-on-year. Schenck Process said that it experienced synergy effects from its acquisition of Thailand-based material processing and packaging company SHAPE and agreed to sell its mining business to Sweden-based Sandvik. It said that a Euro598m order book ensures its ‘continued business momentum’ throughout the remaining quarters of 2022.

Chief executive officer Keith Cochrane said “We continued to demonstrate the resilience of our business by delivering another strong performance in the first quarter of 2022. The disposal of our mining business will enable us to advance a more focused strategy for our other core businesses and strengthen our positions as a global solutions provider for the food, chemical and performance materials as well as the infrastructure and energy markets. Despite a difficult global environment, we are looking forward to a period of further growth building on our recent successes.”

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo recorded consolidated sales of US$140m in the first quarter of 2022, up by 13% year-on-year from US$124m in the first quarter of 2021. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also rose, by 21% year-on-year to US$128m from US$105m. The company said that its strong revenue generation enabled earnings growth despite cost increases. Its reliance on imported clinker to meet growing demand increased Cementos Pacasmayo’s exposure to the effects of inflation.

During the quarter, Cementos Pacasmayo produced 882,000t of cement across its three facilities, down by 4.4% year-on-year. The plants’ clinker production rose by 6.7% to 568Mt from 532Mt in the first quarter of 2021.

UK: Mannok recorded sales of Euro270m in 2021, up by 16% year-on-year from Euro233m in 2020. The company’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 17% to Euro25.8m from Euro31.1m. The group attributed this to substantial cost absorption beginning in mid-2021. Energy prices rose by 66% year-on-year, while the cost of carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) credits more than doubled to Euro80/t at the end of the year.

Mannok said that demand for its products remains resilient, supported by stronger cost recovery. It added that a levelling out in energy prices has driven stronger profitability in the first quarter and April of 2022.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos’ net revenue grew by 22% year-on-year to US$954m in the first quarter of 2022 from US$781m in the same period in 2021. Its cement sales volumes rose by 5% to 8Mt from 7.6Mt. However, its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 57% to US$81.4m from US$189m. The group attributed its increased sales to ‘favourable price dynamics’ in Brazil, North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. However, its earnings suffered from inflation, mounting commodity and energy prices and a strong comparison base in the same period in 2021.

"The war in Europe, sanctions imposed on Russia, new lockdowns in China and bottlenecks in logistics chains continue to impact the global economy. In addition, rising interest rates and cost inflation have affected companies and markets as a whole. Faced with this challenging environment, we remained aligned with our strategy and attentive to costs, our operational excellence and our business plan in all regions," said Marcelo Castelli, Global chief executive officer of Votorantim Cimentos.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s net sales grew by 17.2% year-on-year to Euro800m in the first quarter of 2022 from Euro682m in the same period in 2021. Its cement and ready-mixed concrete sales volumes rose by 2.9% to 6.36Mt and 6% to 2.69Mm³ respectively. The group reported growing sales volumes in Central Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic and the US but it noted a slowdown in Italy. Sales volumes were also disrupted in Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing war between the countries. The group added that its prices were ‘markedly’ up in all markets where it operates to offset rising prices of raw materials and energy.

The company said that in Ukraine it was forced to suspend nearly all of the production and commercial activities at both of its plants when Russia invaded the country. In Russia it said that retaliatory economic sanctions led by the US and European Union had led to a “significant revision of the country's growth prospects.” Local sales volumes significantly slowed down in March 2022 after hostilities started but local operations still managed to report some growth in sales even in spite negative currency exchange effects. Buzzi Unicem said that, “Due to the sanctions imposed on Russia by the European institutions, we decided to immediately withdraw from any operational involvement in the activities carried out by the subsidiary OOO SLK Cement in Russia. Consequently, further strategic initiatives in the country will be suspended.”

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement’s sales fell by 23% year-on-year to US$1.43bn in the financial year to the end of March 2022 from, US$1.85bn in same period in 2021. Its domestic sales volumes of cement grew slightly to 8.34Mt but exports sales volumes rose by 8.4% to 1.54Mt. Its operating income dropped by 59% to US$53.3m from US$129m. The company blamed its falling profits on rising input costs including energy prices such as a coal and oil.

France: Fives’ Process Technologies division’s commercial activities, including those to the cement market, have improved in 2021 following recovery in market confidence following the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Its order intake increased by 43% year-on-year to Euro702m in 2021 from Euro490m in 2020. Its sales fell by 2% to Euro623m from Euro637m. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 63%. In the cement sector, Fives said that the North American market had been active. It reported ‘significant’ orders in Mexico, partly in response to the growing US market driven by the government’s infrastructure bill that was approved in late 2021. Fives also noted growth in Canada, where several companies are working towards carbon neutral production.

Overall, across all market divisions, Fives’ order intake, sales and earnings increased in 2021.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement’s consolidated sales declined by 18% in its 2022 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2022, to US$5.51bn from US$6.72bn. The group’s net profit was US$225m, down by 38% from US$364m.

Nikkei Financial Summary News has reported that Japanese cement consumption was 37.9Mt in the 2022 financial year, down by 2% year-on-year.

Germany: HeidelbergCement’s first-quarter sales were Euro4.43bn in the first quarter of 2022, up by 12% year-on-year from Euro3.96bn in the first quarter of 2021. Its cement and clinker sales volumes remained level year-on-year at 28.4Mt. Sales grew in all regions except North America, where they fell by 6% to Euro798m from Euro849m. Cement and clinker sales volumes fell there by 17%, but rose in every other region.

Chair Dominik von Achten said “The first quarter of 2022 was not an easy one for HeidelbergCement. Despite the continuing uncertainties regarding the supply of energy and raw materials and the associated rise in energy prices, we were able to increase our revenue significantly.” Looking to the rest of 2022, von Achten said
”Although there is still a lot of uncertainty concerning energy and raw material availability and costs, we continue to see strong demand for our products in all regions. In particular, demand for sustainable, low-carbon products is growing rapidly.”