Global Cement News

Turkey: Çimsa Çimento has announced that its consolidated net profit surged to Euro82m in the first half of 2013 from just Euro18.5m in the first half of 2013, a rise of 343% year-on-year. Its first-half performance was mainly driven by income from investment activities of Euro53.9m compared to just Euro3.4m a year earlier.

Çimsa's operating profit rose by 13% to Euro26.8m in the six months to 30 June 213 as revenue increased by 18% to Euro176.7m. Its first-half domestic sales rose by 22% to Euro125.9m, while sales abroad were up by 9.0% to Euro50.8m.

The company's second-quarter consolidated net profit jumped to Euro72.8m from Euro15.7m, in the second quarter of 2012. This represents a rise of 363%. Second-quarter revenue increased by 5.7% year-on-year to Euro105.2m.

Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement's profit rose by 660% to US$4.6m in the quarter ending 30 June 2013 compared to the same period of 2012. The company said that this was due to lower raw material costs.

Tokyo Cement said that its revenue rose by 4% to US$50.8m and that direct costs fell by 5% to US$47.1m. This allowed its gross profit to increase by 87% to US$9.5m. Unspecified other income also rose by 87% to US$1.2m.

Tokyo Cement, which imports clinker for grinding, was hit badly in 2012 as its raw material costs rose and the government, which controls cement prices on the island, delayed a price increase. Now, with higher sales prices and an easing of international commodity and energy prices, clinker prices have fallen. The Sri Lankan Rupee was also more stable in the June 2013 quarter than in the 2012 quarter.

'Below expectations' was the headline message from Holcim's half-year results this week. Canada, Mexico and Morocco were all singled out as problem areas for Holcim but surely India represents the biggest headache for the debt-reducing multinational.

How badly its bottom line was hit by India in particular, Holcim declined to say. Overall its entire Asia Pacific region saw sales volumes of cement fall by 3.7% to 37.8Mt to 36.4Mt for the first six months of 2013. In 2012, India represented over half of the group's Asia Pacific installed cement production capacity. This suggests that the actual drop in sales in India was probably at least 6%, more if the other countries in the territory did better than in 2012. Overall profits for the Asia Pacific region fell by 14% to US$650m. What we do know is that Holcim announced major restructuring to its businesses in India in late July 2013 to cut costs.

The other major cement producers in India have fared similarly badly. UltraTech's first quarter profit, for the period ending on 30 June 2013, fell by 13.5% to US$111m. Its revenue fell by 2% to US$820m. Jaiprakash Associates also reported a 2% dip in its cement sector revenue to US$247m in the quarter ending on 30 June 2013. Profits fell by 24% to US$27m. India Cements' sales revenue rose by 3% to US$196m. Yet its operating profit fell too, by 41% to US$19.8m.

Both Holcim and India Cements blamed falling cement prices in the south of India. India Cements directly mentioned overcapacity. The only explanation UltraTech offered for its poor performance was rising input and logistics costs.

Problems in India are not unexpected. Overcapacity has loomed over the Indian cement industry for some time as the race for growth far overtook the increase in demand. In the wider economy, India hit its lowest gross domestic product increase in a decade, 'just 5%', for the financial year ending on 31 March 2013. Meanwhile the Indian Rupee fell to a record low of 61 against the US Dollar in late June 2013. Not good news at all for any cement producers looking to offset energy or raw materials costs from abroad.

As predicted in our overview of the Indian cement industry back in February 2013, the smaller cement producers are now likely to get picked off by the larger firms as capacity utilisation falls and fuel costs rise. It is interesting to compare this free-market led cement industry consolidation to the state-directed one happening in China.

The Indian media are certainly wise to this with reports and speculation on endless takeover rumours. One example of this is the Irish building materials conglomerate Cement Roadstone Holdings's (CRH) decision to purchase Sree Jayajothi Cements that was announced in early August 2013. However with CRH itself having just reported that it made a loss in the first half of 2013 it may be regretting that it finally has a presence in the south of India.

Saudi Arabia: The management board of Najran Cement has approved the appointment of Mohammed bin Mani bin Sultan Aba al-Ala as board chairman and managing director, with a three-year term. The company also named Daifullah al-Ghamidi as deputy board chairman.

Australia: Boral has made a loss of US$192m for its 2012 – 2013 financial year which ended on 30 June 2013. In the previous year it made a profit of US$160m. The building materials supplier attributed the loss to capacity reduction, organisational restructuring and wider problems with the Australian market.

"Like the rest of the industry, Boral's businesses have been contending with low levels of activity, unfavourable mix shifts in demand, increased competition and unrecovered costs associated with the carbon tax. However, in line with the turnaround strategy that I announced in late 2012, we have been relentless about reducing costs, generating cash and reducing capital expenditure, which positions Boral well as markets improve," said Boral's chief executive officer and managing director, Mike Kane.

Boral's sales revenue rose by 5% to US$4.71bn in the year to 30 June 2013 from US$4.26bn in the prior year. Its profit after tax but before significant items rose by 3.2% to US$94.3m from US$91.4m. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) before significant items rose by 14% to US$206m from US$180m.

By business sector, Boral's Construction materials and Cement division saw total sales revenue rise by 7% to US$2.87bn from US$2.67bn. Operating profit rose by 17% to US$243m from US$208m. Kane explained in the company's results that the improvement came from major project activity, prior year acquisitions and property sales. In the 2013 – 2014 financial year the division's performance is expected to remain strong, despite lower property sales and reduced major project work. However, overall the results in 2013 – 2014 are not expected to exceed those in 2012 – 2013.