Global Cement News

Saudi Arabia: Yanbu Cement has started a two months modernisation project on Line 4 at its integrated Yanbu plant. The company said that dispatches would not be affected by the stoppage due to sufficient clinker stocks. Line 5, which represents 60% of the company's total capacity at the plant, will continue production at full capacity.

The cement producer reported that its sales fell by 4% year-on-year to US$251m in 2020 from US$260m in 2019. Its net profit after zakat and tax grew by 9% to US$74.9m from US$68.7m.

Saudi Arabia: Yamama Cement’s sales rose by 10% year-on-year to US$235m in 2020 from US$214m in 2019. Its net profit after zakat and tax grew by 42% to US$96.9m from US$68.3m.

US: Cemex USA has acquired Beck Readymix Concrete. The ready-mix producer operates three concrete plants in San Antonio, Texas and an additional portable plant.

Texas Regional President Scott Ducoff said, “Texas is experiencing explosive growth and Cemex has repeatedly shown it is ready to make moves to help fuel it. By acquiring these facilities, Cemex will be able to deliver our high-quality products that many Texans are already familiar with to satisfy the high demand of customers of one of the state’s most dynamic markets. We welcome our new employees and look forward to a smooth transition for them.”

US: Terminal Ready-Mix has announced its acquisition of assets from ready-mix concrete and building materials producer Huron Cement. Ohio Newstime has reported that the companies completed the deal in February 2021.

France: Vicat recorded full-year consolidated sales of Euro2.81bn in 2020, up by 2% year-on-year from Euro2.74bn in 2019. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 6% to Euro557m from Euro526m. Consolidated net income rose by 8% to Euro172m from Euro160m.

The group said that organic sales were ‘strong,’ rising in all regions except in France, by 6% in total. It attributed the decline to a near-total shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March 2020, which lifted incrementally throughout the first half of the year. Vicat France’s cement business recovered ‘robustly’ in the second half of 2020, resulting in an operational sales increase of 3% for the year. Full stoppages of activity lasted for 33 days in India and for 30 days in Italy. Despite these challenges, business growth, cost-cutting and lower energy costs drove earnings growth, with ‘very sharp improvements’ recorded in the Americas and in Asia. Additionally, the ramp-up of a new grinding plant in Mali and production performance improvements in Senegal supported a ‘significant’ earnings increase in Africa.

Chair and chief executive officerGuy Sidos said, “Thanks to our employees’ tremendous efforts and commitment, the Vicat group strengthened its position amid the unprecedented current pandemic situation. Our resilience and flexibility allowed us to make organisational changes in order to reconcile our competing imperatives of keeping everyone safe and healthy, unlocking savings and making rapid adjustments, such as relocating our Paris head office to L’Isle d’Abeau in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Likewise, we made improvements to Vicat’s governance and stepped up our environmental and digital transformation programmes. Given the strength of our cash generation, we were able to resume key productivity investment programmes for the future. Despite the adversity we faced, our teams across all our various regions successfully delivered higher production efficiency levels and met market demand cost-effectively, paving the way for a solid increase in the Vicat group’s results.”

In 2021, the group plans to expand cement production and invest in new cement terminals in India and to continue with the upgrade of its Ragland cement plant in the US. It also says that it will ramp up projects aimed at meeting its carbon footprint reduction targets. The group expects its earnings to rise at constant scope and exchange rates over the full year.