Displaying items by tag: US
Hanson Building Products changes name to Forterra
06 October 2015US/UK: Hanson Building Products has changed its name to Forterra following its recent divestment by HeidelbergCement. The rebranding brings with it a new logo to the established business, which has a trading history spanning back several decades, while its wide selection of products and services will be unchanged.
The company, which operates in North America and the UK, makes a diverse range of concrete and clay building products. Structherm, the subsidiary that specialises in external wall insulation, is unaffected by the rebranding. Forterra employs approximately 5000 people, 1600 of whom work in the UK in 18 manufacturing facilities and its new Northampton based head office.
"The Hanson name and logo may have been replaced by Forterra, but this is a change of branding only," said Stephen Harrison, UK managing director of Forterra. "We remain committed to the excellence and integrity recognised by our customers and the construction industry in general and we want to use this rebranding to reinforce our values. We will continue to be a leading building products manufacturer in the UK and a key player within the construction industry. As Forterra, our business enters an exciting new era."
The new name is effective immediately and will be implemented across the company's products, services and communications over the coming months. Company emails and web addresses will also change to reflect the Forterra name. The changes only apply to Hanson Building Products, while Hanson Cement, Hanson Quarry Products and Hanson Contracting will all continue to be part of Hanson UK, which remains within the HeidelbergCement Group. There will be no ongoing connection between Hanson UK and Forterra.
Bedeschi purchases US unit from Dearborn
25 September 2015Italy/US: Bedeschi SPA of Padua, Italy has announced the recent asset purchase of Bedeschi Mid-West Conveyor LLC (BMWC) from Dearborn Mid-West Conveyor Co, a leading provider of turnkey bulk material handling systems for the utility, mining, cement, fertilizer, refinery and marine terminal markets.
Founded in 1947 BMWC is located in Lenexa, Kansas, from where it designs, fabricates and installs bulk materials handling systems.
Rino Bedeschi, Managing Director of the Bedeschi Group said, "We are excited about BMWC becoming part of the Bedeschi Team. Having been in business for 107 years, we are sure the merger will serve our clients with a wider range of products and services with broader organisational capabilities for future domestic and international projects."
Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua on the lookout for acquisitions in Central and South America
18 September 2015Mexico/US: Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) is ready to grow its operations in the USA and make an acquisition in Central and South America after refinancing its debt and improving its earnings margins via a cost cutting programme, according to local business daily El Universal.
Luis Carlos Arias, director of corporate treasury at GCC, explained that the company currently has only one syndicated bank loan of US$194m, which has been refinanced. As such, it has a more flexible credit structure, which allows it to take advantage of different growth opportunities.
In the US, GCC will invest US$90m in 2015 - 2018 to boost production capacity at its plant in South Dakota by 60% to 1.2Mt/yr. GCC has six cement plants, 117 concrete plants and 21 distribution centres from the north of Mexico to the north of the USA.
According to Arias, GCC is looking for opportunities to expand its business to Central and South America in order to have alternative revenues during the harsh winter in North America, which does not allow production during the coldest months. The company has not decided in which country it could make an acquisition as the cement market is highly concentrated in a few big companies. "There are not many opportunities, we are looking at the region as a whole," said Arias.
US: Mitsubishi Materials will likely enjoy a higher-than-expected profit in its North American cement operations in the year that ends in March 2016, due to brisk demand for cement and ready-mix concrete.
The North American cement segment's operating profit is expected to be around US$115m, up by 10% year-on-year. The business accounts for nearly 20% of its consolidated operating profit. North American demand for concrete and cement has increased thanks to the construction of housing and commercial facilities, mainly in southern California, where the company's US headquarters is based. Cement demand in southern California is projected to grow by 10% in 2015 and Mitsubishi Materials expects to raise its prices by a few percent. North American profit is likely to offset rising expenses for truck drivers stemming from labour shortages, beating the forecast the company had made at the start of its fiscal year.
For the April - September 2015 period, the strength in the North American cement business will likely help the company's group operating profit reach US$284m, comparable to the same period of 2014 and roughly in line with its forecast. Riding the brisk demand, Mitsubishi Materials plans to increase its US cement capacity by 150% to about 4Mt/yr in its fiscal 2016 or after.
Cementos Argos helped by rising capacity, better conditions and exchange rate effects in first half
27 August 2015Colombia: In the first half of 2015, Cementos Argos recorded revenues of US$1.09bn, 26% more than in the same period in 2014. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were US$210m, 31% higher than during the first half of 2014.The company sold 14% more cement in the first half of 2014 compared to the first half of 2014, with sales rising to 6.8Mt.
Jorge Mario Velásquez, Cementos Argos' CEO, said, "The consolidated results of the first half of the year show the good individual performance of our business segments and of our growth and market diversification strategy. Thanks to this, Argos is now recording more than 60% of its revenues in US Dollars or currencies closely tied to the US Dollar, which is a situation that puts us in a privileged position given the current circumstances."
In Colombia, Cementos Argos obtained revenues of US$403m, 13% more than in the first half of 2014. During the quarter, the expansion of the Rioclaro Plant became operational, adding 0.9Mt of installed capacity. Its EBITDA in the country was US$91m, which was an improvement of 15% year-on-year.
In the United States an increase in government expenditure, the increase in construction licenses and the highest housing construction levels seen in the last seven years all contributed to an EBITDA of US$49m in the first half, an 89% rise compared to the same period last year.
Boral annual profit up by nearly a half
27 August 2015Australia: Boral has recorded an increase in full-year profit, buoyed by the return to profitability of its US business for the first time since 2007, a pick-up in local demand and cost-cutting initiatives.
Australia's largest building materials provider posted a net profit of US$183m in the year to 30 June 2015, a 48.3% increase on the previous year's US$123m. Underlying profit rose by 45% to US$178m. However, Boral's total revenue over the same period fell by 15.2% to US$3.15bn.
Boral chief executive Mike Kane said that the results reflected the benefits from the company's overhaul of its business which reduced the size of its workforce and resulted in the closure of some unprofitable operations. "We've improved Boral's cost base, strengthened the balance sheet and we are managing our portfolio of businesses more efficiently," he said.
In the current 2016 fiscal year, Boral said it will focus on maintaining underlying earnings from construction, materials and cement, while property earnings remain uncertain. Building products are seen remaining broadly steady, while USGBoral will deliver further underlying improvement.
US: FLSmidth has secured an order for the engineering, supply and installation of a new CataMax catalytic solution for a US cement producer. The order includes a new filter installation with catalytic elements, ID fan, flue gas ducts and dust transport equipment.
The CataMax catalytic solution uses ceramic elements with an embedded catalyst. The porous elements not only remove dust particles from the flue gases, but the catalyst embedded also removes total hydrocarbons (THCs) and organic hazardous air pollutants (O-HAPs) in the flue gas. The CataMax catalytic solution is a patent-pending technology from FLSmidth that will help US cement producers to achieve compliance with stricter environmental regulations.
"We are already seeing an increased interest in this technology from other customers in the US as well as from customers in Europe and Asia, where similar legislative restrictions are also expected in the future," said Jacob Sondergaard, vice president of FLSmidth Airtech, part of FLSmidth's product companies division.
US: Holcim (US), part of LafargeHolcim, has announced that five of its plants earned the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) prestigious Energy Star.
"We are pleased that the EPA has recognised Holcim's continued commitment to environmentally sound practices by awarding five of our plants with the Energy Star Award," said John Stull, chief executive officer of Holcim (US). "Sustainability is a core component of our values and a priority for our employees at every plant and facility."
This marks the fourth time Holcim's Portland plant in Florence, Colorado and the Midlothian plant in Midlothian, Texas have received the award, while the Devil's Slide plant in Morgan, Utah has been honoured for its eight consecutive year. The Holly Hill plant in Holly Hill, South Carolina and the Ste. Genevieve plant in Bloomsdale, Missouri are both receiving the award for the sixth time.
US/Japan: Taiheiyo Cement Corp has announced that its California subsidiary CalPortland Co will buy North Carolina-based Martin Marietta Materials Inc's cement business in California for US$420m. Taiheiyo Cement aims to complete the acquisition procedures by the end of September 2015. The acquisition will allow the company to recoup the cement production capacity lost by the discontinuation of output at CalPortland's plant in Colton, California and to establish a cement supply system to meet growing demand in California, Arizona and Nevada.
US: Eagle Materials has reported that in the first quarter of its 2016 fiscal year, which ended on 30 June 2015, its revenues grew by 7% to US$285m, its earnings before interest and income taxes grew by 1% to US$60.4m, its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 10% toUS$84.6m and its net earnings grew marginally to US$37.8m.
First quarter net sales prices improved across nearly all businesses, with the most notable increases in the cement and concrete businesses. Extraordinarily wet weather in many of itscement markets, including Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado, adversely impacted the timing of cement sales volumes during the first quarter. However, Eagle Materials reported that its underlying demand for its cement continues to remain strong. In addition, all of its cement facilities completed their planned annual outages during the first quarter and cement maintenance costs were approximately US$3m higher than the prior year's first quarter.
Its cement revenues for the first quarter, including joint venture and intersegment revenues, totalled US$128.2m, which was slightly higher than the same quarter last year. The average net sales price grew by 9% year-on-year. Cement sales volumes fell by 7% to 1.2Mt. The most significant decline in cement sales volumes occurred in Texas, primarily associated with well-above average rainfall during the period. Operating earnings from cement for the first quarter of 2016 grew by 25% to US$25.7m. The earnings improvement was driven primarily by improved average net cement sales prices, lower energy, raw materials and purchased cement costs, partially offset by lower cement sales volumes and US$3m of increased costs associated with a shift in the timing of all the annual maintenance outages at cement plants to the first quarter.