Displaying items by tag: Results
UltraTech’s annual profit down
24 April 2014India: UltraTech Cement, part of the Aditya Birla Group, has announced that its net profit declined year-on-year by 19% to US$351m in 2013-2014. This marks the company's first fall in profit for five years and was attributed to rising input costs and sluggish sales.
UltraTech's net sales rose to US$3.29bn for 2013-2014 from US$3.28bn in 2012-2013. For 2013-2014, the company's cement shipments grew to 41.47Mt from 40.65Mt in 2012-2013. For the quarter that ended in March 2014, UltraTech reported an 8% increase in net sales to US$954m, up from US$882m in the same period of 2013.
Huaxin forecasts huge percentage gains
16 April 2014China: Huaxin Cement Co Ltd has announced that it anticipates its net profit for the first quarter of 2014 to grow by 350-400% year-on-year, compared to a profit of US$4.14m in the corresponding period of 2013. The Hubei Province-based company attributes its forecasted profit growth to increasing cement product sales and prices.
China Tianru revenue rises by 14% to US$1.4bn in 2013
02 April 2014China: China Tianrui Group Cement Company has reported that its revenue rose by 14% to US$1.40bn in 2013 from US$1.22bn in 2012. Its gross profit remaining static at US$305m in 2013 and its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose slightly to US$356m. The Chinese cement producer attributed the rise in revenue to increasing sales volumes of cement in response to a 'proactive' pricing strategy and a general increase in demand driven by rural development and the demand from certain large-scale infrastructure projects, such as the South-North Water Transfer Project.
Sales of cement rose by 19% year-on-year to US$1.30bn in 2013. Sales of clinker fell by 23% to US$107m. By region, the company saw its revenue in its Central China region rise by 13% to US$1.01bn. In Northeastern China its revenue rose by 16% to US$385m. By volume, the company sold 36.9Mt/yr in 2013, a rise of 41.4% from 2012.
In 2013 Tianrui acquired one 1.2Mt/yr clinker production line and six cement production lines with a combined production capacity of 5.3Mt/yr in Liaoning and Henan provinces, at a cost of US$109m.
Podilskiy Cement reports Euro7.4m loss in 2013
02 April 2014Ukraine: Podilskiy Cement has preliminary reported a loss of US$7.4m in 2013. The CRH subsidiary reported a US$6.5m loss in 2012 despite increasing its revenue. The wet process cement plant has six production lines with a total cement production capacity of 3.7Mt/yr.
HeidelbergCement profit up by 79% in 2013
19 March 2014Germany: HeidelbergCement has announced its consolidated financial results for 2013. The year saw its revenue reach Euro14bn, a 3.4% increase year-on-year, with operating income 5.2% higher than 2012 at Euro1.61bn. Its profit was up by 79% year-on-year reaching Euro945m, with earnings per share more than doubling to Euro3.98.
The company said that it had brought the year to a 'successful close' in a difficult economic environment. It highlighted a return to steady economic growth in North America and Europe as well as continued growth in Asia and Africa.
"In 2013, we generated our best results since the financial crisis," said Dr Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. "This was mainly due to the successful implementation of our FOX 2013 programme, price increases in major markets, reduced financing costs and lower non-recurring charges. Consequently, we were able to improve revenue, operating income and operating margins in all our business lines on a comparable basis. At the same time, we clearly achieved our target of noticeably increasing profit for the financial year and earnings per share."
HeidelbergCement's cement sales volumes rose slightly year-on-year, driven by the positive development of sales volumes in the North America, Asia-Pacific and Africa-Mediterranean Basin group areas, which more than offset a decline in demand elsewhere, especially in Eastern Europe.
For 2014, HeidelbergCement expects continued improvement, including in Eastern Europe. "In 2014 we will benefit from economic development in industrial countries, particularly in North America, the UK, Germany and Northern Europe," said Scheifele. "These countries generate almost 50% of our revenue. Furthermore, we are improving our market position in growth markets with the commissioning of modern production facilities. In view of these factors, as well as our high operational efficiency, we consider ourselves well-equipped to benefit over-proportionally from the accelerating economic growth in the interests of our shareholders."
Indocement sees profit go up 5.2%
19 March 2014Indonesia: Indocement Tunggal Prakasa, Indonesia's second largest cement manufacturer, posted a 5.2% increase in its profit in 2013, reaching US$440m. Its revenue also surged by 8.1% to reach US$1.65bn for 2013. It attributed its improved fortunes to an increase in cement prices. "The company used the good market momentum to increase prices, contributing to the increase in net revenue," said Indocement in a statement. Indocement's cement and clinker sales volumes increased by 1.2% to reach 18.2Mt in 2013.
Zambezi Portland ups output
12 March 2014Zambia: Zambezi Portland Cement (ZPC) increased its cement production by 5% to 475,000t/yr in 2013 from 452,000t/yr in 2012. ZPC sales and marketing manager Isaac Ngoma said that ZPC had seen its output grow by 25% year-on-year to nearly 70,000t for the first two months of 2014. ZPC has expansion projects planned for 2014 and the company also intends to increase its mining and aggregate sales.
China: China Resources Cement (CRC) saw its net profit rise by 43.6% year-on-year in 2013 to US$430m from US$299m in 2012. Its turnover rose by 15.8% to US$3.78bn from US$3.27bn. The southern Chinese cement producer attributed the rise to improving market conditions since April 2013.
CRC increased its sales volumes of cement by 20% to 67.1Mt in 2013 from 55.9Mt in 2012. Sales volumes of clinker fell by 11% to 7.78Mt from 8.74Mt. By province sales volumes of cement increased by 29% to 23.2Mt in Guangdong, 13% to 23.5Mt in Guangxi, by 29% to 9.4Mt in Fujian, by 1% to 4.0Mt in Hainan, by 20% to 3.8Mt in Shanxi and by 15% to 3.1Mt in Yunnan.
During the year CRC increased its clinker production capacity by 1.4Mt/yr and its cement production capacity by 2Mt/yr due to the completion of a 4500t/day clinker line and two cement grinding lines at Changzhi, Shanxi province. Two 1200t/day clinker lines in Shanxi ceased operation due to their likely lack of compliance with new environmental emissions standards, reducing the group's cement production capacity by 1Mt/yr.
In its annual report CRC also mentioned that it had accelerated its NOx reduction upgrades at its production lines. As of 31 December 2013 37 clinker lines had been upgraded with two outstanding scheduled for the first half of 2014. The group has also completed upgrades for dust collection systems at five clinker lines with upgrades for eight other lines scheduled. At the end of 2013 CRC had a total cement production capacity of 75.5Mt/yr and a total clinker production capacity of 51Mt/yr.
New construction projects CRC started during 2013 included a 1.6Mt/yr clinker line with two cement grinding lines with a combined capacity of 2Mt/yr at Jinsha County, Guizhou costing US$171m; a 1.2Mt/yr clinker line and two cement grinding lines with a combined capacity of 2Mt/yr in Midu County, Yunnan costing US$142m; a 1.6Mt/yr clinker line and two cement grinding lines with a combined capacity of 2Mt/yr at Hepu County, Guangxi costing US$168m; and a 1.9Mt/yr clinker line and three cement grinding lines with a combined capacity of 3Mt/yr in Lianjiang County, Guangdong costing US$218m.
CRC chairman Zhou Longshan said that the state-owned company plans to increase production capacity through its own projects and through acquisitions focused on Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Fujian in 2014. He expects demand for cement in China to grow by 6 – 8% in 2014.
Cementir Holding reports sluggish revenue in 2013
12 March 2014Italy: Cementir Holding has reported a revenue of Euro989m in 2013, a 1% increase year-on-year from the Euro976m reported in 2013. Sales of grey and white cement fell slightly by 1% to 9.74Mt in 2013. Despite this, net profit rose by 144% to Euro40.1m and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 22.9% to Euro170m.
"Despite the modest increase in revenues, profitability improved significantly. Cementir Holding ended 2013 with EBITDA above the target set at the start of the year, despite the sharp downturn in the Turkish and Egyptian currencies," said Francesco Caltagirone Jr, Chairman and CEO of Cementir Holding.
By region the Italy-based cement producer reported revenue rises in Scandinavia, Turkey and in the Far East. Revenues fell by 15% in Egypt and by 13.6% in Italy.
In its outlook Cementir Holding expects to see continued revenue growth in Scandinavia, Turkey and the Far East in 2014 and an improvement in profitability in Italy amidst continued market weakness. It does not expect the situation to improve in Egypt during 2014.
US: After five years in the red in its US business, Taiheiyo Cement expects to return the segment to profitability in the year that ends in March 2015, according to company president Shuji Fukuda.
The American subsidiary had been a major source of revenue, raking in just over US$200m in 2006, but began posting losses after the 2008 financial crisis hit. With the US housing market slow to recover, the subsidiary has remained stuck in the red year after year.
However, the segment is doing more business, particularly on the West Coast, while the average selling price rose by 10% in 2013.