Global Cement News

Three of the big multinational cement producers - HeidelbergCement, Cemex and Italcementi - have already released preliminary reports for 2012. Here's what they tell us.

Geographically, performances in the Americas and Asia propped up balance sheets. Europe, however, continued to ruin the party in 2012.

In its Western and Northern Europe section HeidelbergCement saw a 3.9% decrease in sales of cement and clinker to 21.3Mt from 22.1Mt in 2011. However this was still higher than the sales in 2010 of 19.7Mt.

Cemex's Northern Europe section witnessed a 13% drop in overall net sales to Euro3.05bn. Its Mediterranean section did worse, with a 15% drop in net sales to Euro1.08bn. Both declines were similar to the falls in cement volumes in these regions. Italcementi watched its Central Western Europe region plummet by 16.1% to 16Mt.

To demonstrate the comparative exposure to Western Europe, 25% of HeidelbergCement's sale volumes came from Western Europe and 35% of Italcementi's sale volumes came from Western Europe. Cemex hasn't released any figures for sales of cement in its preliminary results but overall in cement, aggregates and concrete, 37% of its sales came from its two European regions.

HeidelbergCement noted that demand for construction materials remained stable in Germany and Northern Europe. However it weakened in the UK and the Netherlands. By contrast Cemex noted a decrease in cement volumes for the year in Germany although it became stable by the fourth quarter. For the UK it had the same experience as HeidelbergCement, with a similar downturn in France and Poland. In its Mediterranean region Cemex recorded a whopping 40% decrease in cement volumes. Although light on detail, Italcementi pointed out a 25% drop in cement consumption in Italy and a 8% drop in France and Belgium.

In November 2012 the European Commission forecast that gross domestic product (GDP) would fall by 0.3% in the European Union (EU) in 2012. Broadly in line with the national situations reported above, Germany's GDP is forecast to have risen in 2012; the UK's, the Netherlands', Belgium, Italy and Spain's GDPs looks to have fallen in 2012. Curiously though, both France and Poland were forecast to have improving GDPs in 2012. HeidelbergCement and Cemex's experiences suggest that this didn't happen in the French construction industry. The (next) light at the end of the tunnel for 2013 is that EU regional GDP growth is forecast to become positive again.

With Lafarge and Holcim due to release their annual report for 2012 in late February 2012, we'll revisit this topic in a few weeks time.

US: The board of directors of Holcim (US) has appointed Filiberto Ruiz to serve as the company's president and chief executive officer. Ruiz's appointment also includes serving as president and chief executive officer of Aggregate Industries US, a Holcim Group Company.

Additionally, Bernard Terver, currently a member of the Holcim Ltd Executive Committee, formerly president and chief executive officer of Holcim (US) and Aggregate Industries US, has been named chairman of the board.

Ruiz has served as the company's deputy chief executive officer since August 2012 and has been with the company for more than 26 years, holding a range of general management, manufacturing and sales and marketing positions both within and outside of the US.

Terver has been president and chief executive officer of Holcim (US) since October 2008 and Aggregate Industries US since 2010. He has more than 30 years' experience in the cement and mineral components industry both in the US and internationally.

Australia: Building materials supplier Boral has reported a loss of US$25.1m for the first half of its 2012-2013 fiscal year, due to a sustained weakness in the Australian and US housing markets. It recorded a profit of US$157m in the same period in 2011-2012.

For the half-year ending on 31 December 2012, Boral reported a sales revenue of US$2.86bn, 14% above the previous year. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) (before significant items) increased by 3% to US$116m. Both figures benefitted from acquisitions that the company made. Profits were hit by US$79.6m impairment charges tied to the suspension of clinker production at Waurn Ponds, Victoria and first half restructuring and redundancy costs.

"In Australia, Construction Materials delivered a solid 25% improvement in EBIT, but Cement reported a 15% decline and Building Products reported a very disappointing US$18.6m first half loss, following an US$11.4m loss in the second half of last year," said Boral's CEO and Managing Director Bob Kane. He added that in the company's cement division, the high Australian dollar and increasing production costs have continued to impact. Boral has taken action to replace Boral's manufactured clinker in Victoria with lower cost imports.

Denmark: Danish cement plant manufacturer FLSmidth has reported that its profit fell by 9% to Euro175m in 2012 from Euro193m in 2011. However, its revenue rose by 21% to Euro3.33bn from Euro2.75bn. Earnings before non-recurring items, depreciation, amortisation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 9% to Euro370m from Euro339m.

FLSmidth commented that in 2012 in the cement industry, capacity utilisation outside China remained relatively subdued at around 75%. Overall, the global cement market was affected by macroeconomic uncertainty and slow growth, but there were several local areas, where the economy grew and where cement demand outpaced supply.

In its cement division FLSmidth reported a fall in revenue of 3% to Euro584m in 2012 from Euro565m in 2011. It commented that the global market for contracted new kiln capacity (excluding China) amounted to an estimated 40Mt/yr in in 2012, compared to 46Mt/yr in 2011. This is the lowest level since 2002 and FLSmidth stated that it expects the market for new cement kiln capacity to have hit 'bottom' in 2012.

"We expect 2013 to be a trough year in terms of EBITA margin – particularly in Cement and Mineral Processing, where execution times are typically up to two to three years. The explanation is simply that we will now be executing orders taken at trough margins during the years of global financial crisis. Fortunately, we have seen market conditions improve since then, and we therefore expect margins to increase again in 2014," commented CEO Jørgen Huno Rasmussen in his outlook for 2013.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem has announced that its revenue for 2012 rose by 0.9% to Euro2.81bn. The positive impact of currency exchange rates helped compensate for falling cement volumes. The firm said in a statement that it expected a recurring earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of about Euro450m in 2012, in line with its previous estimates.

The company will shortly start a squeeze-out procedure on its German unit Dyckerhoff, of which it owns already 96.6%. The procedure will be completed in 2013 and lead to delisting of the German firm.