Displaying items by tag: UK

Tomorrow (18 September 2014) the residents of Scotland, one of the UK's four 'home nations', will vote in a referendum. The question will be whether or not the country should leave the UK and become fully independent. Rival 'Yes' and 'No' campaigns have spent the best part of two years trying to convince the electorate of the benefits of either leaving or staying in the UK.

Leaving the political discussion to one side, where would a 'Yes' vote leave the Scottish cement industry? The only cement plant in Scotland is the 1Mt/yr Lafarge Tarmac plant at Dunbar, East Lothian, so on the face of it, Scotland's cement industry would be 100% owned by one operator. At this stage, however, it is (hopefully) fair to assume that relations between Scotland and the rest of the UK should be cordial enough to allow normal supply chains and contracts to continue over the border. Lafarge Tarmac, or any future operator, should expect business as (mostly) usual.

However, there are potential issues when it comes to the ongoing UK Competition Commission's (CC) investigation into competition in the UK cement and blast furnace slag markets. The removal of Dunbar from the list of UK cement assets is small but significant. Would the CC come to the same conclusion regardless of the outcome of the Scottish vote? And (how) would any decisions filter into the EU-wide investigations into the LafargeHolcim merger disposals?

Part of the discussion around Scottish independence has been the suggestion that Welsh nationalists might ask for a similar referendum in the event of a Scottish 'Yes.' In our cement plant thought experiment, this has much more of an effect on the current UK situation, with two Welsh plants at Mold, Flintshire and Aberthaw, Roose, which is also a Lafarge Tarmac plant. This would really re-shape the former UK's cement industry and pose new questions for regulators. Elsewhere, Northern Ireland's only cement plant is also a Lafarge Tarmac facility.

Also, a 'Yes' for Scotland has the potential to reverberate around the rest of the European Union (EU). Catalonia, the autonomous region in Spain, has a long-standing and separate identity to the rest of Spain. By contrast to Scotland, its cement industry is massive, with Ciment Català listing eight plants across four operators. If it left Spain, there would be 30 plants in the country instead of 38.

More provocatively, Belgium is a country that, while at the centre of Europe, is often divided at home. French-speaking Wallonia has all five of Belgium's cement plants, but separation between this region and the Dutch-speaking Flemish region would require a number of unlikely changes.

Elsewhere, there are calls to separate the north of Italy from the south, although cement plants are roughly in proportion throughout the country. In France, Brittany also has its fair share of nationalist sentiment. However, any moves here would not trouble the French operators - there are no cement plants in Brittany. Normandy is in the same situation, although a Breton would probably claim that Normandy is 'just part of France.'

The above is only a scratch on the surface. A quick internet search for 'separatist movements in Europe' leads to a large number of hits. The most illustrative of the links is this map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_separatist_movements_in_Europe#mediaviewer/File:Active_separatist_movements_in_the_European_Union.png
It appears that many EU residents would like the map of Europe redrawn.

Looking outside of the EU, the cement industry of Texas has the largest cement industry of all US states. With huge oil reserves, a large and growing population and fast development, Texas' cement industry would thrive in the event of its secession. Discussion of this was particularly strong following the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2012.

Of course, much of the above is hypothetical... or is it? Just two year's ago nobody was talking about Scottish independence. We will find out tomorrow if Europe will get a new (Scottish) cement industry.

UK/US: Hanson Building Products Ltd, which is owned by HeidelbergCement AG, filed with US regulators for an initial public offering of ordinary shares. BofA Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank Securities are underwriting the IPO, Hanson told the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus on 15 September 2014.

HeidelbergCement agreed to buy Hanson plc, which includes Hanson Building, for Euro10Bn in 2007 to create the world's second-largest construction materials company. Hanson Building produces concrete gravity pipe, concrete and steel pressure pipe and clay bricks in the US, eastern Canada and the UK. However, HeidelbergCement has been aiming to offload its US and UK building products business in 2014 to have the best chance of buying cement assets that Lafarge and Holcim must sell when they merge, according to Reuters.

Hanson Building's filing included a nominal fundraising target of about Euro77.3m. The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price. Hanson Building intends to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange but did not specify the symbol. HeidelbergCement, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the German cement manufacturer, is selling all the shares in the offering and Hanson Building will not receive any of the proceeds.

Hanson Building reported net income of Euro11.5m for the first six months of 2014, compared with a loss of Euro195m during the same period of 2013. Net sales, however, dropped by 47% year-on-year to Euro462m.

UK/Singapore: The private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is in discussion with Singapore's Government Investment Corporation (GIC) about a combined bid for assets being sold by Holcim and Lafarge as they prepare to merge, according to Sky News. CVC is also understood to be talking to other state investment funds about the proposed deal.

At least two other private equity groups have been formed to bid for the divestments that Holcim and Lafarge are preparing to sell. Blackstone has teamed up with Cinven and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. BC Partners and Advent International are also preparing a joint bid. Initial offers are understood to be due in September 2014.

France/UK: Environnement SA, the French supplier of environmental monitoring equipment and the company PCME Ltd, the UK-based supplier of continuous particulate monitors for industrial processes, have announced the acquisition of PCME by Environnement SA.

The firms say that the acquisition allows the enlarged group to offer the most advanced and wide range of solutions worldwide so that it can match present and future challenges in respect of process or regulatory environmental monitoring requirements for industrial processes. This new alliance will shortly launch a new range of flow emission monitors and will engage in innovative joint research and development projects towards the production of new product ranges. Each entity will keep its own autonomy, with PCME retaining its current management team and employees.

François Gourdon, president and founder of Environnement SA, said, "We are very enthusiastic about the opportunities that we'll be able to provide to our worldwide industrial customers. The expertise of PCME for the monitoring of particulate in industrial processes, combined with the expertise of Environnement SA in the monitoring and detection of very low concentrations of gas and fine particulate, including PM10 or PM2.5, will definitively provide a new generation of equipment for the industrial regulatory market."

William Averdieck, managing director and founder of PCME Ltd, said, "Both management teams have known each other for many years and have respect for the success they have both achieved in similar markets with complementary product lines. This strong partnership announced today will boost our organic growth plan and strategy, allowing us to double our revenue within five years, reaching new customers, new markets and new applications worldwide, while maintaining our strength as an innovative (and passionate) manufacturer of particulate and flow instruments."

UK: The construction industry slow-down that started in 2008 led to Hanson Cement, HeidelbergCement's UK subsidiary, laying off 70 employees at its cement plant in Padeswood, Flintshire, Wales. At the time, Hanson considered closing the plant, but instead ran at half capacity in the hope the situation would improve. It has now submitted plans to Flintshire council for a new production line, which the company said would create 35 new jobs, following a building industry upturn.

"It's a good news story considering we've gone through such a depressed period," said Hanson's David Weeks. "We have three plants in the UK; one in Padeswood, one in Lancashire and one in Lincolnshire. We only really needed two and Padeswood would probably have been the one to go. But we decided to hang on in and now we're confident that we'll get Padeswood up to full capacity once again." Hanson Cement said that work will start immediately if it gets the go-ahead.

Read Global Cement's plant visit report from Padewsood, which was published in the June 2014 issue of Global Cement Magazine.

UK: Hope Construction Materials is bolstering its 300-strong concrete mixer fleet with 36 new Mercedes-Benz trucks. The new Arocs 3236 8x4 B11 4-axle mixer trucks, each equipped with a McPhee mixer system, are Euro 6 compliant, built to the latest diesel engine emission legislation from the European Commission.

The vehicles feature a string of active safety measures, including a vulnerable road user package, as well as a lane control system, collision-avoidance and smart system which warns the driver if pedestrians or cyclists are too close to the vehicle. The system, which was developed by Cycle Safety Shield using Mobileye technology, works to mitigate the risk of collisions and road departure. The Cycle Safety Solution warns drivers when a cyclist or pedestrian is within danger zones, such as the nearside blind spot area. All of the trucks are fitted with TomTom satnavs, allowing the driver to consistently take the most efficient route and for customers to be informed of the exact location of their order at any given point.

"The purchase represents a significant commitment by Hope to providing our drivers with the best possible vehicles," said Mike Cowell, COO at Hope Construction Materials. "They are the most advanced trucks on British roads and will benefit our drivers, customers and other road users."

"This is the first fleet of 8x4 Euro VI Arocs mixers to enter service in the UK and Hope has demonstrated how both safety and sustainability work hand in hand," said James Colbourne, Head of Strategic Accounts (Trucks) at Mercedes-Benz UK Ltd.

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.

UK: The bulk handling company Flexicon has announced a new Ultra-Heavy-Duty Bulk Bag Filling System, which palletises and fills bulk bags with filter cake, aggregates, metal powders, abrasive minerals, dry chemical additives and other difficult-to-handle bulk materials like cement and gypsum.

The system integrates a Swing-Down® Bulk Bag Filler with a Flexicon Pallet Dispenser and Powered Chain Conveyor, allowing safe, high-capacity filling of bulk bags of all popular sizes, including bags with wide-diameter spouts for the passage of irregular materials. The system is offered with Flexicon's steel-tube flexible screw conveyor integrated with the user's upstream process equipment or other material source.

UK: Sublime Nature, a new book launched by Cemex UK, became the first in the new Nature Series from global building materials supplier Cemex when it was launched on 18 June 2014. The book has stunning photographs of the natural world and follows the 20-volume Cemex Conservation book series.

Sublime Nature, developed in partnership with National Geographic and Christina Mittermaier, dedicated conservationist and photographer, includes spectacular photographs taken by award-winning photojournalists interspersed with inspiring words from renowned writers and environmentalists. It is aimed at creating awareness of the great beauty of the planet and promoting preservation and conservation.

Jesus Gonzalez, President of Cemex UK, said, "As a leading supplier of cement, aggregates and readymixed concrete, we recognise the need to balance the requirements of the natural world with the demands of communities for building materials to be used in new schools, homes, infrastructure and the built environment. Although recent government announcements have seen a reduction in green objectives, I remain passionate about maintaining sustainability momentum while playing a key role in delivering on our built environment challenges. Our key activities focus on driving down CO2, boosting nature around our operations, developing more sustainable solutions and being more efficient with natural resources."

UK: Repairs to the flood-damaged Cemex UK cement plant at South Ferriby are said to be making 'good' progress according to Cemex UK. The 0.8Mt/yr plant was flooded by a tidal surge from the River Humber in early December 2013.

Partial production started in April 2014 and a Cemex UK spokesman has reported to the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph that they plan on resuming full production later in 2014. Repair efforts are now focusing on the kiln systems and the two raw mills and coal mills. Cemex UK has declined to comment on how much the repairs have cost although it is rumoured to have cost as much as Euro14m. The plant employs 150 people and contributes Euro 12.5m/yr to the economy of North Lincolnshire.