Displaying items by tag: Results
Malaysia: Lafarge Malaysia's pre-tax profit for the first quarter of 2015, which ended on 31 March 2015, rose to US$27.6m from US$26.9m in the same quarter of 2014. Its revenue improved to US$193m from US$188m in the prior year due to higher cement and concrete sales in the domestic market on the back of market growth. The company expects the construction sector to continue to grow in 2015 driven mainly by the continued progress of key infrastructure projects and ongoing commercial and residential development.
Eurocement Ukraine cuts cement production by 22%
20 May 2015Ukraine: Eurocement Ukraine cut its cement production by 21.9% year-on-year to 1.09Mt in 2014. Its sales volumes decreased by 24.7% year-on-year to 1.09Mt, while its sales fell by 19.5% to Euro34.1m. Eurocement Ukraine has reported a loss of Euro11.7m for 2014, having decreased its net revenues by 23.6% to Euro34.3m.
UniCem to suffer US$45.2m losses in 2015
20 May 2015Nigeria: The management of United Cement Company of Nigeria (UniCem) has disclosed that the company will suffer losses totalling US$45.2m in 2015 due to the economic downturn currently affecting Nigeria, including devaluation of the Naira.
"The devaluation of the Naira impacts negatively on our business because most of our transactions, like procurement of spares and materials, payment of some of contractors (Macmahon and CBMI), energy cost and servicing of foreign creditors, are basically US$-denominated. Cumulatively, we will have a revenue loss of US$45.2m in 2015 due the devaluation of the Naira," said managing director Olivier Lenoir.
The construction of the line II project at Mfamosing, Akamkpa in Cross River State is on course and will provide employment for hundreds of workers. "This project will at peak employ a total manpower of 1915. At this moment the manpower working in the project is 1290. The operations will determine what the manpower need will be when we handover the project," said Lenoir. "The captive power plant is 85% complete and the civil construction of the second line is at 38%." He added that the major challenges in the project are non-technical and include high level of malaria infection, heavy rainfall and customs clearance problems. Lenoir said that, despite these hitches, UniCem is optimistic that the project will be completed on schedule by September 2016.
Cimpor reports 5.3% fall in cement sales
19 May 2015Portugal: In the first quarter of 2015, Cimpor's cement and clinker sales fell by 5.3% year-on-year to 6.8Mt. Growth in Argentina, Paraguay, Portugal and South Africa was not enough to offset a downturn in Brazil and Egypt. Sales rose by 7.4% year-on-year to Euro637m, bolstered by an overall rise in average prices. However, Cimpor's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of Euro123m reflected the lower activity in the first quarter.
In the Brazilian market, Cimpor's cement sales were affected by the economic contraction. Local constraints on the water supply affected the construction market, which in turn hit cement demand and put pressure on energy costs. In Argentina, Cimpor outperformed growth in local consumption, which was robust. Cement consumption in Paraguay remained dynamic and Cimpor, which is now making use of all of its local production capacity, showed a marked improvement in its EBITDA margin.
In Portugal, after a long period of downturn in consumption, the market returned to growth in the first quarter of 2015. Cimpor said that its Portuguese business managed to capture the growth in domestic market demand while also maintaining its export capacity.
In South Africa, despite strong competition from a new operator in Cimpor's operating region, as well as from imported cement, its commercial policy and the launch of co-processing made it possible to take advantage of growth in local demand. Demand for cement in Egypt was expected to have fallen and was more pronounced in Cimpor's volumes because of an adjustment to its natural market share after posting an unusual level of sales in 2014. This was based on competitors' operations being negatively affected by fuel scarcity.
Cimpor said that a new commercial dynamic introduced into its activities in Mozambique had come to fruition in the first quarter of 2015. Despite a negative market trend over the previous year due to adverse weather and problems with local power supply and increased pressure from importers, cement sales fell only by 1.5% year-on-year.
India: JK Lakshmi Cement has reported an 88.6% fall in its net profit to US$0.95m for the quarter that ended on 31 March 2015. Total income fell by 11.4% year-on-year to US$93.8m for quarter.
For the year that ended on 31 March 2015, JK Lakshmi Cement posted a 2.8% rise in its net profit to US$15m. Its total income surged by 11.2% to US$367m for the year and its net profit after tax grew by 9.65% year-on-year to US$16.2m.
PPC hit by low domestic cement demand
19 May 2015South Africa: PPC has reported that in the six months that ended on 31 March 2015, its profit fell by 38% year-on-year, hurt by slack demand at its mainstay home market. However, its revenue rose by 9% to US$379m during the period.
South African building firms are struggling with weak demand as the government delays rolling out its US$84bn infrastructure investment package. In response, PPC has set its sights on the rest of Africa. It is building plants in African countries like Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a wider plan to generate 40% of its sales outside its home market by 2017.
Nigeria: Dangote Cement has announced a gross profit of US$375m for the three months that ended on 31 March 2015, a 10.5% increase over the US$340m recorded in the same period of 2014. Its revenues rose to US$576m from US$520m in the corresponding quarter of 2014. The improvement was buoyed by maiden contributions from non-Nigerian plants. Net profit was up by 44.1% to US$345m.
Group cement sales volumes were up by 3.4% to 3.8Mt, driven by contributions from South Africa, Senegal, Cameroon and new lines in Nigeria. The margins from Nigeria increased due to pricing, improved gas supply and more use of coal. Dangote's newly-operational cement plants in Zambia and Ethiopia are expected to impact positively on its future financial situation.
"Our African projects are now beginning to deliver revenue growth for the group and even at this early stage we are seeing good potential in all the countries into which we are expanding," said company CEO Onne van der Weijde. "Senegal has made an excellent start, Cameroon is poised for a strong entry into an exciting growth market and Sephaku Cement is shaking up the South African market as the first new entrant in many years. Although sales fell in Nigeria, we improved both revenues and margins thanks to pricing actions in December 2014 following the collapse of the oil price and currency devaluation. We are making a significant investment to improve our logistical capabilities and I am pleased to report a much more favourable fuel supply in the first quarter of 2015. We have invested for growth in Africa and each new plant that opens will generate good returns for shareholders as we deliver on our promise to become Africa's leading cement company."
UAE: Fujairah Cement Industries (FCI) has reported a 51% surge in its net profits for the first quarter of 2015 to US$2.2m compared to US$1.47m in the corresponding period of 2014. FCI previously posted a net profit of US$7.02m for the entirety of 2014 against a net loss of US$3.32m in 2013.
India: Orient Cement, a C K Birla Group company, has reported revenues of US$243m in its 2015 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2015. It also expects the demand cycle in the Indian cement industry to pick up within a couple of quarters and is ready to take up the opportunity with inorganic growth.
Orient Cement CEO Deepak Khetrapal said that the country is witnessing policy tweaking on the infrastructure front. "We can see that the GDP growth will happen on massive investment in infrastructure and this will pick up demand for cement in the country," said Khetrapal.
Orient Cement reported 225% growth in its fourth quarter 2015 net profit to US$13.4m. Its revenue, however, declined marginally to US$61.9m from US$63m in the same quarter of 2014. Orient Cement's revenue grew by 8% for the whole of its 2015 financial year, while its net profit was up by 93% to US$30.5m.
Orient Cement has already set a target of achieving 15Mt/yr production capacity by the end of 2020. "We are exploring all avenues to grow inorganically. We have already started investments in a greenfield project in Rajasthan. Also, we are looking at acquiring a few production plants with 2Mt/yr and 3Mt/yr production capacities in eastern India," said Khetrapal.
Orient Cement has invested US$236m at its soon-to-be-commissioned Kallaburgi plant to achieve 3Mt/yr of installed capacity. "We will make additional investments of US$78.6m by the end of the 2016 fiscal year. We have got all of the clearances for the project and the state government nod for limestone mining is expected within 8 - 10 weeks," said Khetrapal.
US: Eagle Materials Inc has reported its financial results for its 2015 fiscal year that ended on 31 March 2015.
Earnings before interest and income taxes increased by 32% year-on-year to US$265m, reflecting improved sales volumes across nearly all business lines, with cement sales volumes setting an annual record of 4.8Mt. Net sales prices also strengthened across all businesses. Fourth quarter earnings before interest and income taxes increased by 31% to US$44.4m, as fourth quarter sales volumes improved across nearly all businesses, reflecting improving construction fundamentals in the US.
On 3 March 2015, Eagle entered into a definitive agreement with Holcim (US) to purchase its 600,000t/yr granulated ground blast furnace slag (GGBFS) plant in South Chicago. The purchase price of US$30m is subject to customary post-closing adjustments and will be funded from operating cashflow. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of its 2016 fiscal year and is conditioned upon the closing of the Lafarge-Holcim global merger.
Operating earnings from cement in 2015 were a record US$118m, an increase of 31% compared to 2014. Revenues from cement, including joint venture and intersegment sales, were US$489m for 2015, 12% higher than 2014. Operating earnings from cement were a fourth quarter record of US$21m, a 74% increase from the prior year quarter. Cement revenues for the quarter, including joint venture and intersegment revenues, totalled US$90.8m, 11% greater than the same quarter of its 2014 fiscal year. Cement sales volumes for the quarter grew by 3% year-on-year to 827,000t.