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DG Khan Cement profit rises by 35% to US$52.5m 11 September 2013
Pakistan: DG Khan Cement has reported that its profit after taxation rose by 35% year-in-year to US$52.5m for the 2012 – 2013 financial year that ended on 30 June 2013. In the same period in the 2011 – 2012 year it reported a profit of US$39.2m. No reason for the increase in profit was given in the notice sent to the Karachi Stock Exchange. The cement producer also saw its sales rise by 9% to US$238m from US$219m.
In its release DG Khan revealed that its board has approved plans to build a green-field 2.6Mt/yr cement plant on land the company owns at Hub, Lasbela District. Meanwhile, plans to build a cement plant in Mozambique have been dropped due to a lack of supporting infrastructure.
Tabuk Cement posts US$28.5m net profit in first half of 2013 10 September 2013
Saudi Arabia: Tabuk Cement Company has reported a net profit of US$28.5m for the first half of 2013, a slight rise from US$28.2m in the same period in 2012. Tabuk Cement attributed the rise to rationalisation of expenses. The cement producer's operating profit fell by 3% year-on-year to US$28.1m from US$29.0m.
Australia Cement broke competition law with fly ash contract 10 September 2013
Australia: Australia Cement has been found in breach of Australian competition for a fly ash contract that lessened competition. As reported by The Australian newspaper, Justice Andrew Greenwood of the Federal Court in Brisbane made the verdict in a case against the cement producer by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC).
The ACCC had alleged that Cement Australia had breached the abuse of market power provision though a fly ash contract with Millmerran Power Partners. While finding no breach of section 46 of the Act, Justice Greenwood said Cement Australia had breached section 45 through a contract to buy the fly ash from the power station.
Only interim declarations were publicly released to give the parties the chance to go through the about 500-page judgment in case of any confidentiality issues. Justice Greenwood reserved his decision on costs and no decision was made on any penalties.
Dangote planning US$400m cement plant in Kenya 09 September 2013
Kenya: Dangote Cement has released plans to build a US$400m cement plant in Kenya, according to the president's office of Kenya. Dangote's CEO Alhaji Aliko Dangote was part of a three-day state visit by Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan to the east African country to build bilateral trade agreements. No further information on timescales or production capacity was released.
ASEC Cement wins Muthanna contract 09 September 2013
Iraq: ASEC Cement and Iraq's Qemmet El-Iraq have won a 14-year contract to renovate and manage the Muthanna Cement Plant in Muthanna Province, Iraq.
Abulla Hussein of Qemmet El-Iraq and ASEC Cement Chairman and CEO Giorgio Bodo attended a signing ceremony in Baghdad with Southern Cement, the state holding company that controls Muthanna Cement, on 28 August 2013. The value of the contract was not released.
"Iraq has embarked on a robust plan to rebuild and modernise its infrastructure and has launched major housing, industrial, and community projects. The rehabilitation of Muthanna is an important part of Iraq's investment in bridging the supply gap, particularly in the south," said Bodo.
Muthanna Cement is located in southern Iraq, between Najaf and Basra. Built in the 1980s, the plant has a total clinker production capacity of 1.92Mt/yr and 2Mt/yr of cement. Due to economic sanctions placed on Iraq in the 1990s, the company's current production capacity is around 20%. Work on the plant will start in the second quarter of 2014 with a plan to reach the plant's original cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr in August 2016.