Global Cement News

Greece: Titan has announced that its third quarter net profit more than tripled, helped by foreign exchange gains from a weakening Euro.

Titan's net profit rose to Euro27.6m in the third quarter of 2014, compared to Euro7.2m in the same period of 2013. A weaker Euro against the Dollar and the Egyptian Pound led to foreign exchange gains of Euro21m in the quarter. In 2013, Titan had currency losses of Euro4.5m.

Sales rose by 2% year-on-year to Euro309m, with growth in the US and Greece more than offsetting a decline in Egypt, where natural gas supply shortages hurt the operation of its plants. Titan said that it was optimistic on its performance for the rest of 2014, citing a continuing recovery in the US and expectations for higher cement consumption in Greece for the first time in seven years.

Tajikistan: All of the necessary equipment will be delivered to Tajikistan for a cement plant that is being built at the Chormaghzak Pass in Vahdat Township before the end of 2014, according to Abduhalim Qodirov, the director general of the Tajik-Chinese joint venture, TOJCHIN, which is building the plant.

Construction of the plant began on 1 October 2014. The first line, which has 600,000t/yr of cement production capacity, will be introduced into operation in April 2015.
"360 specialists, mainly citizens of Tajikistan, are involved in construction of the plant," said Qodirov, noting that the plant would have a cement production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr when completed. The plant is expected to provide 500 jobs. The total cost of the project is US$30m, including US$23m invested by Chinese business circles and US$7m contributed by Tajik private entrepreneurs.

Under the law passed by Tajikistan's lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament on 12 November 2014, TOJCHIN is exempted from paying value added tax (VAT) and customs duties (totalling US4.6m) on equipment shipments.

UK: Coretrax, leading engineered service for wellbore clean and abandonment, has launched its CX-IST (Inflation Support Tool) to the oil and gas market, following a US$3m development investment.

The CX-IST significantly reduces rig time, offering substantial cost savings. It gives a positive indication that the cement will be set in the correct place before latching at the bottom of the work string, using a pre-installed landing sub. Once secure, pump pressure inflates the elastomer to seal the wellbore. The IST is then released by picking up the work string. The CX-IST creates a 100% wall-to-wall base for well cement or fluid. The operator can deploy as many ISTs as needed in the same or multiple zones without tripping the drill pipe in and out of the hole, providing significant operator time and cost reductions.

"This is a monumental success for Coretrax and a game changer for the entire industry," said Kenny Murray, managing director at Coretrax. "The team is passionate about the business and has worked tirelessly for three years, from initial stages, to produce an innovative product, which will benefit the oil and gas sector."

Turkey: Oyak Group, Turkey's military pension fund, has US$2bn in cash for acquisitions and may spend some of it on assets being divested by Lafarge and Holcim.

Oyak is interested in Holcim and Lafarge businesses in countries including Romania, Serbia and Hungary, according to Celal Caglar, Oyak's head of the cement and automotive unit. Holcim and Lafarge need to sell units to gain regulatory approval for their planned merger to form LafargeHolcim. In Europe, regulators have set a 15 December 2014 deadline to either approve the deal or open a deeper investigation.

"We are interested in bidding as Oyak or together with a European group," said Caglar. Oyak has US$2bn in cash for acquisitions and can leverage it more than five times if needed, he added. "We are closely following the sale process."

On 10 November 2014 Oyak completed the purchase of Turkey's Denizli Çimento from Ireland's CRH and Turkey's Eren Holding AS for between US$400m and US$450m, as part of Oyak's expansion plans. Oyak has a cement production capacity in Turkey of 20.1Mt/yr, or 19% of the country's market share, through its six plants, including Denizli. It has a clinker production capacity of 10.3Mt/yr, or 15% of Turkey's total. Oyak expects Turkey's cement market to grow by 5% in 2015 after an estimated 6% in 2014, helped by projects including highways, a road tunnel under the Bosporus, stadium constructions and new metro lines.

South Africa: PPC has compiled a shortlist of six candidates to succeed Ketso Gordhan as CEO and will make an appointment after a shareholders' meeting in December 2014, according to chairman Bheki Sibiya.

"We have 85 candidates, of whom six are the cream of the crop," said Sibiya. "We are looking at a person who is going to buy into the board's strategy. We are not looking at anybody who is going to change it."