Displaying items by tag: Switzerland

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim’s net sales took a tumble of 8.7% to Euro26.9bn in 2016 from Euro29.5bn in 2015. Although on a like-for-like basis it says they declined by just 1.7%. However, its adjusted operating earning before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 1.3% to Euro5.83bn from Euro5.75bn, with a higher improvement rate on a like-for-like basis. The building materials company didn’t explain why its sales had fallen in 2016. Instead it focused on its efforts on cutting costs, building benefits from synergies, working on pricing and growing its earnings.

“Our strong execution was visible across our five regions, which all grew earnings for the quarter and for the year. This performance underlines the strength of our diversified portfolio, which has a good balance of mature and developing markets. I am also pleased with the positive trajectory of markets such as the US, Nigeria, India and key countries in Europe, which we have singled out as important drivers for growth in 2017 and beyond,” said chief executive officer Eric Olsen.

The group’s sales volumes of cement fell by 8.8% to 233Mt from 256Mt with decreases in all regions. It reported that production overcapacity hit cement volumes and prices in Indonesia, Brazil continued to face challenging operating conditions with its ongoing recession and both Nigeria and Egypt faced difficult markets in the period. Of particular note its sales volumes fell in North America due to an economic downturn in Western Canada and a strong fourth quarter in 2015 to measure against. Operating EBITDA rose on a constant basis in Europe and North America only.

Switzerland: Eric Olsen, chief executive officer of LafargeHolcim, has been elected as the new chairman of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) in 2017. The appointment was confirmed at the CSI’s annual CEO Meeting in Madrid.

“It is an honour for me to be chairing this important industry organization in the coming year. Sustainability in the construction sector is not the preserve of one organisation. I will focus on ensuring that the CSI continues to play an important role in building collaboration within our industry and encouraging joint action across the entire value chain. As one of the largest global sustainability programs ever undertaken by a single industrial sector, we have a real opportunity to drive change. Our plans are ambitious and we are conscious that we will only achieve them by working together”, said Olsen.

LafargeHolcim is one of the founding members of the CSI which is part of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and was launched in 1999 with the aim of supporting the progress of the global cement sector toward sustainable development. The CSI unites 23 major cement producers with operations in more than 100 countries. Collectively these companies account for around 30% of the world’s cement production and range in size from multinationals to local producers.

Switzerland: Members of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) have welcomed the Paris Agreement entering into force as a key milestone in establishing a stable regulatory framework to enable the business community to scale up the implementation of low-carbon solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The agreement, adopted on 12 December 2015, entered into force, 30 days after the date (5 October 2016) on which at least 55 parties to the convention (UNFCCC) accounting in total for at least an estimated 55% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

“Climate change is a global issue that no one can solve alone. The cement sector has been working collectively since 1999 on measuring and reporting its CO₂ emissions while developing solutions for mitigation and adaptation through the CSI, that Cemex is currently chairing. We welcome the entry into force of the Paris agreement, that sets the long awaited regulatory framework to scale-up the implementation of these solutions and encourages further cooperation between private companies, policy makers and the financial community,” said Fernando Gonzalez, CEO of Cemex and current chairman of CSI.

“We are delighted to see that the Paris agreement sets a framework for reporting CO₂ emissions that looks fully compatible with what the CSI has developed some 10 years ago, including the independent verification,” added Philippe Fonta, managing director of the CSI. The Getting the Numbers Right (GNR) database provides the baseline of CO₂ emissions that can be used to develop low-carbon technology roadmaps, like the one developed by CSI in partnership with the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2009 as well as for future market mechanisms to be developed under the Paris agreement.

The CSI is now working on expanding its tools and guidelines to additional cement companies to build on the leading initiatives taken by the CSI members and scale up implementation of available solutions. The CSI will convene cement companies and stakeholders on 13 and 14 December 2016 in Madrid at its annual forum to update its action plan covering subjects like energy efficiency, use of alternative fuels, reducing the clinker-to-cement ratio, identifying and measuring the avoided emissions throughout the value chain by using sustainable concrete, the development of new cements and concrete and the carbon capture and utilisation or storage opportunities.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim’s net sales have fallen by 7.5% year-on-year to Euro18.9bn in the first nine months of 2016, from Euro20.4bn in the same period of 2015. However, on a like-for-like basis it said its net sales fell by 1.8%. Cement sales volumes fell by 6.4% to 177Mt from 189Mt. Its adjusted operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA) fell by 3.3% to Euro3.9bn from Euro4.03bn. No direct comment was made on the nine-months results but Nigeria was blamed for significantly affecting earnings and ‘challenging’ markets were also reported in Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia.

“These results demonstrate the strength of our balanced portfolio with solid contributions from both mature and emerging countries across our regions. As we anticipated, challenging conditions in Nigeria continued to impact our earnings, but we started to see the positive effects of higher prices and of our actions to diversify our fuel mix towards the end of the quarter,” said Eric Olsen, CEO.

Cement sales volumes have fallen in most of the group’s operating regions. Although on a like-for-like basis modest rises were reported in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and North America. In Nigeria the company has taken steps towards greater fuel flexibility following gas supply interruptions earlier in 2016 but production levels only recovered at the end of the third quarter in the year.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has announced that it will shed around 250 jobs as part of a reorganisation of its global operations. The announcement comes following the completion of merger proceedings between the former Lafarge and Holcim.

There will be 250 job reductions in corporate functions by the end of 2017, of which around 130 will be in Holderbank, Switzerland, 80 in L'Isle d'Abeau, France, and the remainder in other global sites in the rest of the world. This represents around 0.25% of LafargeHolcim’s 100,000 staff.

Switzerland: Alain Bourguignon, region head for North America, and Ian Thackwray, region head for Asia Pacific will leave LafargeHolcim following a reorganisation of its executive committee. The group said the changes reflected an evolution of its portfolio following recent divestments and the closure of its integration phase following the merger between Lafarge and Holcim.

Pascal Casanova, currently responsible for the Latin America Region, will take responsibility for North America including Mexico. Roland Köhler, currently responsible for the Europe Region will add Australia, New Zealand and Trading to his responsibilities. Martin Kriegner, currently responsible for India, will join the Executive Committee and take additional responsibility for South East Asia. Oliver Osswald, currently responsible for our operations in Argentina, will join the Executive Committee with responsibility for Central and South America.

As of 5 August 2016, the executive committee, chaired by Eric Olsen, will be composed of the following members:

• Urs Bleisch, Group Head of Performance & Cost;
• Pascal Casanova, Region Head North America including Mexico;
• Roland Köhler, Region Head Europe & Australia / New Zealand & Trading;
• Martin Kriegner, Region Head India & South East Asia;
• Gérard Kuperfarb, Group Head of Growth & Innovation;
• Caroline Luscombe, Group Head of Organization and Human Resources;
• Oliver Osswald, Region Head Central & South America;
• Saâd Sebbar, Region Head Middle East & Africa and
• Ron Wirahadiraksa, Chief Financial Officer.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has blamed lower prices and gas shortages in Nigeria for a drop in its adjusted operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the first half of 2016. Its adjusted operating EBITDA fell by 6.7% year-on-year to Euro2.33bn from Euro2.5bn in the same period in 2015. Net sales fell by 6.2% to Euro12.3bn from Euro13.1bn.

“Without the effect of Nigeria, where our plants were affected by gas shortages, adjusted operating EBITDA would have increased by 13% in the quarter. Nigeria is a high growth market and we are adapting our plants to reduce our dependency on gas to restore supply and capture growth. We expect these measures to take effect by the end of the year,” said Eric Olsen, CEO of LafargeHolcim.

LafargeHolcim’s cement sales volumes fell by 3.7% to 119Mt from 124Mt. Its Asia Pacific business region reported that cement sales remained stable during the half year at 60.7Mt as markets in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Sri Lanka increased volumes and markets in Indonesia and Malaysia declined. European cement sales fell by 2.7% to 19.6Mt from 20.1Mt. In Latin American sales fell by 13.2% to 11.8Mt from 13.6Mt mainly due to the poor market in Brazil. The Middle East Africa region remained stable at 21.7Mt, with growth in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco partly compensating for problems in Nigeria. Despite this, sales volumes of cement in this region fell by 2.3% year-on-year to 10.9Mt in the second quarter of 2016. In North America sales volumes of cement fell by 2.7% to 8.8Mt in the half-year from 9Mt due to weaker demand in Canada. However, demand in the US construction industry helped overall sales to rise by 5.1% to Euro2.21bn.

India/Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has announced that it has entered into a letter agreement with Nirma Limited subject to approval by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the divestment of its interest in Lafarge India for an enterprise value of approximately US$1.4bn. Lafarge India operates three cement plants and two grinding stations with a total capacity of around 11Mt/yr. The company also markets aggregates and is one of India’s leading ready-mix concrete manufacturers. The proceeds from the divestment will be used to reduce LafargeHolcim’s debt.

Eric Olsen, CEO of LafargeHolcim, said, “This agreement is an important step in our US$3.6bn divestment programme. With this deal, two thirds of the programme has been secured and it is well on track. We are confident that we will meet our target by the end of this year. With the proposed buyer we have found the right partner who will be able to develop the business further in the interest of all of our stakeholders.”

LafargeHolcim will continue to operate in India through its subsidiaries ACC Ltd. and Ambuja Cements Ltd., which have a combined cement capacity of more than 60Mt/yr and a distribution network that extends across the entire country.

India/Switzerland/UK: The five bidders that gave their final bids for Lafarge India’s 11Mt/yr cement business have been called to London, UK for the final leg of discussions, which started on 7 July 2016. Multinational bidders, including Mexico’s Cemex and China’s Anhui Conch, are believed to have bid aggressively. Domestic bidders Ajay Piramal Group, Nirma and Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Cement also submitted bids earlier in the week.

The bids are in the range of Euro1.19-1.33bn, which implies an enterprise value of US$108-121/t, comparable to UltraTech’s recent acquisition of JP Group’s cement assets for US$116/t.

“This discussion in London could take three to four days to finalise,” said a banker familiar with the development. “The winner will be decided not just on the price quoted for assets but also other conditions for the bid,” he said. Once the winning bid is decided, an exclusivity agreement will be signed with the bidder and it will take around three months to complete the deal.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has appointed Alessandra Girolami as the group’s new Head of Investor Relations from 1 September 2016. Girolami will report to group chief financial officer Ron Wirahadiraksa. She replaces Michel Gerber, who will leave the group.

Girolami joins LafargeHolcim from the Carrefour Group, where she has been in Investor Relations since 2005 and Head of Financial Communications and Investor Relations since 2014. She began her career at ABN AMRO as a sell-side analyst. Girolami graduated from ESCP Europe with a major in finance and holds a postgraduate degree in Applied Economics from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris.