Displaying items by tag: Spain

The results are in from the European cement majors and the news from the Mediterranean producers is grim. A common phrase found in most of these financial reports was the 'challenging economic environment' in western Europe. Here's what this means.

In Spain, Cemex saw its net sales in its Mediterranean region (consisting mainly of Spain) slump by 17% to Euro1.10bn. Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV) posted a loss of Euro83m for the first nine months of 2012, almost 10 times the loss for the same period in 2011. In July 2012 the Spanish cement association Oficement noted that demand had fallen by 60% year-on-year.

In Italy, Italcementi reported a 92% crash in net profit, to Euro17.1m, for the first nine months of 2012, and a drop in revenue of 4%, to Euro3.39bn, for the first nine months of 2012. Buzzi Unicem reported a 21% decline in sales volumes of cement and clinker, and a drop in sales of 15% to Euro430m. Vicat reported that Italian sales across all its business lines were down by 9% for the year.

By contrast, beleaguered Greek producer Titan has finally started to show a (slight) increase in its revenue. It has been able to report a second consecutive quarter where turnover has risen year-on-year. Although Titan's net profit for the same period still plummeted by 96% to Euro2m.

Elsewhere progress of a kind is being made despite the ongoing European slump, mainly due to profitable assets held outside of western Europe.

Lafarge reported that its overall sales were up by 4% to Euro4.39bn in 2012 so far. Yet its income has fallen by 44% to Euro332m and its profits are suffering from its restructuring programme. In western Europe Lafarge noted that cement volumes were down by 11% to 12.5Mt so far in 2012 and that sales were down by 9% to Euro2.43bn.

Holcim reported a 5% increase in overall net sales and a 7% increase in operating profits to Euro1.57bn. In western Europe Holcim's sales volumes were down by 4.6% (like-for-like) to 20.1Mt and sales were down by 6% to Euro3.68bn.

HeidelbergCement reported a 2.5% increase in overall sales but pre-tax profits have fallen by 5% to Euro601m. HeidelbergCement's revenue from its cement business in western and northern Europe was down by 5% to Euro1.3bn. Buzzi Unicem reported overall flat sales at Euro2.15bn but net profit rose by 50% to Euro85m. Despite this Buzzi Unicem reported a drop of 8.5% in Germany.

Vicat reported little change in sales at Euro1.73bn for the year so far. Vicat's financial reporting made it hard to tell how much was lost in Europe but French cement sales were noted as being down by 12%. Cemex's sales volumes were down by 13% in northern Europe, with net sales down by 15% to Euro3.09bn. Italcementi's cement sales volumes in central and western Europe fell by 16.8% to 12.2Mt.

Of the major producers only Lafarge failed to state the obvious in its outlook about western Europe: that sales will continue to decline in 2012 and 2013. If Titan has set the bar for how much more pain the other European producers have yet to face then conditions are likely to get worse. Get ready for even more 'challenges' in 2013.

Spain: Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV) has posted a loss of Euro83m for the first nine months of 2012, almost 10 times the loss for the same period in 2011. The negative performance was attributed to the weak demand in Spain, which could not be offset by the activities abroad. CPV's turnover totalled Euro505m, of which Euro253.6m was generated in the domestic market and Euro251.4m came from abroad. Cement demand in Spain fell by 34.6% over the period, while in the company's two main foreign markets, the USA and Tunisia, it rose by 9.8% and 11%, respectively.

Spain: Spanish cement company Cementos Molins has reported a net profit of Euro31m for the nine months to September 2012, an increase of 85% compared to the same period in 2011. In a regulatory filing the company attributed the increase to its international operations.

The foreign units of the company recorded a net profit of a total Euro55m while the domestic subsidiaries registered a combined loss of Euro24m. Cementos Molins' turnover was Euro688m from January to September 2012, a rise of 12.6% year-on-year.

Sales abroad grew by 23% to Euro550.4m while domestic sales fell by 15.7% to Euro138m due to a significant reduction in demand. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 43% in Euro159m. The company's net debt was Euro349m at the end of September 2012, a reduction of Euro49m from December 2011.

Spain: Cemex España, the Spanish subsidiary of Mexican cement company Cemex, plans to cut around 390 jobs. This represents 22% of its 1740 current employees. The company has attributed its decision to flagging cement consumption in Spain, amid continued ecomonic turmoil, austerity measures and unemployment.

Spain: The management of cement producer Cementos Lemona, a subsidiary of Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV), has presented a job-cutting plan, which will affect 34 employees at its in plant in Viscaya in the Basque region of Spain. The move is part of CPV's viability plan to adjust production in the current depression in the Spanish construction industry. Employees at Cementos Lemona have met to discuss the plan.

The news this week that GSO Capital Partners has patched together a group of investors to recapitalise Giant Cement and its owner Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV) has been a long time coming.

Giant may be based in the US but CPV is Spanish. Here cement production fell by 28% year-on-year for the first half of 2012. For its 2012 forecast Oficemen, the country's domestic producers association, forecast in July that consumption will fall by 25% compared to 2011, to 15Mt/yr, representing a drop of 73% from a high of 56Mt/yr in 2007. Potentially the Spanish cement industry could regress to a per capita consumption of only 325kg/capita, figures not seen in the country for nearly 50 years! It has already hit a 48-year low.

In other words it is the perfect time for cash-rich foreign firms to pick up a bargain. Yet the question that should be asked, especially by anybody else thinking of investing in highly indebted European cement assets, is how do investors expect to make any return?

Simply waiting for the market to improve is one strategy for those who can afford it. According to the Global Cement Directory 2012, Spain has 38 cement plants with a capacity of 48Mt/yr. Of this the big players – Cemex, Holcim, Lafarge and CPV – comprise 28Mt/yr. Even if the smaller producers stopped producing cement overnight the big producers would still have the capacity to produce twice as much cement as is currently required.

However, the focus on the CPV subsidiary Giant Cement is telling. The owner of CPV, Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA (FCC), was originally reported as trying to sell Giant by March 2012. With the US market starting to pick up, Giant would make an attractive acquisition. FCC's last attempt to sell Giant was, however, delayed by CPV's debt.

With a Giant sale delivering some return to the GSO Capital Partners investors, followed up by further on-going debt repayment from CPV, the only loser would be the future development of the Spanish cement industry outside of that done by the multinationals. Heavily indebted European cement producers with profitable overseas assets must be looking very attractive indeed to international investment firms. The bargain hunt has begun.

Spain: Asset investor GSO Capital Partners has gathered a group to invest Euro345m in Giant Cement and its owner Cementos Portland Valderrivas. The troubled company, which is reportedly set to close three of its eight factories in Spain, will use the capital injection to refinance and pay down existing debt. In 2011 Cementos Portland recorded a loss of Euro337m, due primarily to cement consumption in Spain falling by 64% from its peak in 2007.

Due to the size of the transaction, GSO decided to bring a group of co-investors into the deal, the majority of which are limited partners in GSO's funds. The Blackstone Group's credit affiliate will invest primarily from its 'rescue' lending fund, GSO Capital Solutions Fund I, which collected more Euro2.6bn in 2010.

GSO is one of many private equity groups to focus on opportunities related to the ongoing economic chaos in Europe, as firms including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Apollo Global Management and Oaktree Capital Management have all been focusing on credit-related opportunities in the region.

"We expect Europe to be a happy hunting ground for cash-rich investors who have the skills, resources and patience to pan for gold in Europe's distressed loan portfolios and debt riddled corporates," commented Andrew Traynor and Anthony Smyth of law firm Walkers.

Spain: Spanish cement production fell by a further 60% year-on-year in the first half of 2012 according to Oficemen, the sector's national association. Oficemen noted that demand for cement in Spain has now dropped to a 48-year low, with levels as low as this not seen since 1964. The association previously announced that the country produced 6Mt of cement in the five months to 31 May 2012, but did not provide a total amount for the first half of 2012.

Consumption also fell, by 34.7%, year-on-year to 7.2Mt in the first six months of 2012. Oficemen expects demand to plunge by 25% to 15Mt for the full year. Accordingly, it is expected that exports from Spain will increase by 40% year-on-year to 6Mt in 2012.

These figures compare unfavourably with 2011's own poor figures and come as the Spanish economy continues to struggle with its Eurozone debt, protests at austerity measures and unemployment of 25%.

Spain: Spanish competition authority CNC has fined Cementos Portland Valderrivas Euro1.28m for submitting incomplete information. In May 2012 the CNC launched a probe into Cementos Portland over allegedly incorrect information about revenues, volume of products and corporate structure. Cementos Portland was obliged in January 2012 to pay a Euro5.72m fine for participating in a cartel fixing the prices of concrete.

Spain: Holcim has launched a restructuring plan that will cut 373 jobs in Spain, 35% of its staff in the country. The new organisation will retain 680 employees.

As part of a four stage plan Holcim will streamline its business operations under a single management, the company's corporate structure will be reduced with administrative functions centralised in Madrid, capacity of cement production will be reduced and further activities in other lines of construction materials will also be scaled down. Holcim further detailed that two kilns at its Yeles Plant in Toledo will be shuttered as will the entire Lorca Plant in Murcia.

The company has made the move as the Spanish domestic market faces its fifth year of recession, with cement consumption dropping from 56Mt/yr in 2007 to 20.2Mt/yr in 2011. In the first four months of 2012 the markets dropped 40% year-on-year.