Displaying items by tag: Sales
India: Aditya Birla Group's Ultratech Cement Ltd has reported net profits and sales for the first quarter of financial 2015, which was April to June 2014, with regards to both stand-alone and consolidated results. On a consolidated basis, Ultratech's first quarter net profit, after minority interest, was US$104m, whereas the company reported US$111m in the corresponding quarter of 2014. Quarterly net sales and other operating income amounted to US$1.00bn, while the same was at US$880m in the first quarter of the 2014 financial year. Other income stood at US$35.7m in the current fiscal year, up from US$25.4m in the 2014 fiscal year. Combined domestic grey cement and clinker sales volumes were 11.70Mt, up by 16% from 10.08Mt in the same period of 2014.
US: Eagle Materials has reported financial results for the first quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, which ended on 30 June 2014. First quarter earnings before interest and income taxes increased by 21% year-on-year to US$59.8m, as first quarter sales volumes improved across nearly all businesses areas and sales prices improved in all businesses.
Operating earnings from cement for the first quarter were US$20.5m, an 8% increase from the same quarter of the 2014 fiscal year. The earnings increase was driven by record cement sales volumes and a 5% increase in average net cement sales prices. While cement demand continues to recover, extraordinary rail congestion associated with the harsh winter weather adversely impacted the timing of cement shipments during the first quarter. Cement revenues, including joint venture and intersegment revenues, totalled US$128m, up by 9% year-on-year. Cement sales volumes were 1.3Mt, up by 4% year-on-year. The average net sales price grew by 5% year-on-year.
Tunisia: Carthage Cement Company's turnover for the first six months of 2014 amounted to US$87.5m excluding VAT, up by 419% compared to the same period of 2013. Clinker sales totalled US$16.6m, while cement sales amounted to US$55.1m, including US$14.5m of exports. Sales of ready-mix concrete grew by 25% compared to the same period in 2013.
Kenya: Strong sales of cement and fertiliser have boosted Kenya's ARM Cement's pre-tax profit by 20% to US$13.68m in the first half of 2014. Total revenue jumped by 16% to US$86.6m, after cement sales rose by 10% in Kenya and by more than 33% in Tanzania. The improved sales were attributed to an improved distribution network.
"The east African regional economies are growing briskly and demand for cement, as well as the other products, are expected to grow further," said ARM. The company expects earnings to grow further in the second half of 2014, mainly due to improving margins driven by investments in its plants in Tanzania and Kenya.
ARM has invested a total of US$171m in a clinker plant in Tanga, Tanzania and a cement plant in Dar es Salaam, also in Tanzania. The plants have a combined capacity of 1.8Mt/yr. The investments have helped the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to hold steady at 24% in the first half of 2014, defying pressure from higher input costs, such as energy.
UK: Anglo American has announced that it plans to sell its equity in its joint venture project with Lafarge UK. Anglo American plans to use the proceeds of the sale to pay off debt.
Once it owns the entire firm, Lafarge plans to sell it to help it gain approval from competition regulators for its merger with Holcim. Lafarge and Holcim need to shed around Euro5bn in assets to persuade regulators to back the merger. Lafarge and Holcim's merger is expected to be completed in the first half of 2015.
"The sale will be subject to a number of conditions, including the completion of the Lafarge / Holcim merger, the divestment of Lafarge Tarmac being accepted as a suitable remedy, and approval of this sale transaction by the necessary regulators," said Anglo American.
Europe: Lafarge and Holcim have set up a Divestment Committee following the announcement of the planned merger on 7 April 2014, with the aim of taking forward the divestment process. The Committee has drawn up a list of proposed asset disposals to anticipate potential competition authorities' requirements. The announcement represents a major part of the total assets that the two companies aim to divest.
The two companies are proposing the following disposals:
• Austria: Lafarge's Mannersdorf cement plant;
• France: Holcim's assets in metropolitan France, except for its Altkirch cement plant and aggregates and ready-mix sites in the Haut-Rhin market; Lafarge's assets on Reunion island; except for its shareholding in Ciments de Bourbon;
• Germany: Lafarge's assets;
• Hungary: Holcim's assets;
• Romania: Lafarge's assets;
• Serbia: Holcim's assets;
• UK: Lafarge Tarmac assets with the possible exception of one cement plant.
• Canada: Holcim's assets;
• Mauritius: Holcim's assets;
• The Philippines: the associated companies of Lafarge and Holcim (Lafarge Republic Inc and Holcim Philippines Inc) are exploring the combination of their businesses other than LRI's Bulacan, Norzagaray and Iligan plants, which are considered to be divested as part of such combination;
• Brazil: Holcim and Lafarge will file soon with the Brazilian regulator (CADE) and propose a comprehensive and high quality package of divestments.
The future LafargeHolcim group will have a significant and balanced industrial base in Europe, enabling it to take advantage of the European economic recovery. Both companies will continue to consider whether divestments would be necessary where there might be overlaps or depending on regulatory requirements.
The proposed divestments are subject to review and further discussions with the regulatory authorities. The divestment process will be carried out in the framework of the relevant social processes and ongoing dialogue with the employee representatives' bodies and will be conducted in parallel to discussions with the competition authorities and potential buyers. The divestment process will be completed subject to the closing of the merger between Holcim and Lafarge.
Find out exactly which cement plants are affected by Holcim and Lafarge's proposed asset divestments in the Global Cement Directory 2014, available here.
Pacific Cement’s branded cement project proves a hit
02 July 2014Fiji/Vanuatu: Pacific Cement Limited, a Fijian Holding Group company that was formerly known as Fiji Industries Limited, has labelled its branded cement project a success. For the past 12 months Pacific Cement has been making cement for home brands, whereby customers select the brand. The company's original brand, Pacific Cement, has been on the market for more than 40 years. However, the emerging market trend is that distributors wish to have their own cement brand.
"We started with our distributor in Port Vila, Vanuatu," said Pacific Cement Limited's acting general manager, Sonni Dutt. "The distributor requested cement under his own brand and we supplied it. After 12 months, the response has been extremely good and exports from Fiji under the new brand have increased. The biggest advantage under this business model is that we don't need to do any marketing."
Pacific Cement has also commenced the same process in Fiji, with two key distributors requesting cement under their own brand. "We are trying to get more customers and we are in fact expecting a few more to come on board," said Dutt. "So that has become a loyalty between the supplier and the customer and presents a win-win situation for both parties."
Trinidad Cement enters Colombian market
26 June 2014Colombia / Trinidad & Tobago: Trinidad & Tobago's Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) has entered the Colombian cement market. The company has imported the first shipment containing cement to be processed at its Barrancabermeja facility in Santander. The shipment contains 300t of Type G oil well cement.
In total, TCL has spent US$320,000 on its facility in Barrancabermeja, and it plans a similar project in Llanos Orientales for the second half of 2014.
HeidelbergCement to sell building products business
18 June 2014Germany: HeidelbergCement intends to sell its building products business and has already contacted several banks about the deal. The division is expected to be sold for Euro1.1 – 1.5bn, according to the Financial Times. CEO Bernd Scheifele has been reportedly planning on conducting the sale for a long period. In the 2013 financial year the company's building products business saw its revenue fall by a tenth to Euro1.1bn.
Polish cement sales to grow to 15.5Mt in 2014
11 June 2014Poland: Gorazdze Cement has forecast that sales of cement in the country will grow by up to 7% year-on-year in 2014 to 15.5Mt up from 14.5Mt in 2013. Similar sales growth is expected in 2015, provided more projects co-financed by the European Union are started. The Institute for Market Economics (IBnGR) expect sales to reach 15.2Mt in 2014 and then 16.4Mt in 2015. The research institute attributes the sales growth in 2014 to an improving situation in the rail, energy, residential and road construction sectors.