Cement News tagged: Corporate
Russia’s Sberbank reportedly selling LafargeHolcim stake
Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, is selling a stake in Swiss cement business LafargeHolcim Ltd valued at about CHF1.5bn (about US$1.5bn), Bloomberg reported late Wednesday, citing a termsheet. UBS Group AG is sole bookrunner on the sale of 37.2m shares, the terms showed. Sberbank acquired a 6.12 per cent stake in LafargeHolcim in January from Eurocement Holding AG as part of a repurchase ag...
Votorantim to invest in Spanish plant
Votorantim Cimentos will invest EUR1.7m in the Toral de los Vados cement plant of its Spanish subsidiary Cementos Cosmos. The investment will fund environmental improvements as well as health and safety initiatives. Last year the Brazilian major invested around EUR1.8m in the modernisation of the facilities despite the works seeing clinker production fall by 10 per cent with further decline...
Eeva Sipilä to step down as Cargotec CFO
Eeva Sipilä, Cargotec's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) will leave Cargotec to take up the position of CFO at Metso Corporation. Eeva Sipilä will continue in her current position and as a member of Cargotec's Executive Board latest until the end of July 2016. The process for finding her successor has been started. "I want to thank Eeva for many great achievements in building our finance orga...
Lafarge not to proceed with US$765.8m Indian deal, Birla says
Lafarge's Indian unit has scrapped an agreement to sell two of its cement units to Birla Corp, the latter said in an exchange filing. On Tuesday Birla Corp said in a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange that it had now been informed about Lafarge India's "inability to proceed" with the transaction. After consultation with lawyers, the company “has decided not to accept their contention an...
China: CNBM warns of 70% drop in 2015 profit
CNBM has issued a profit warning, predicting that the net profit for 2015 will be 70 per cent down YoY, mainly attributable to the slowdown in cement demand growth and severe overcapacity in the industry. As a result, the Chinese cement major saw a significant drop in cement prices. Earlier this week, Huaxin Cement also said it expects 2015 net profit to fall 90-95 per cent YoY due to wea...
Havre and La Couronne units to become grinding centres
As part of the restructuring following the merger LafargeHolcim will be closing down cement production at the Havre and La Couronne cement works in France. Havre will be converted into a grinding station with 31 staff (compared with the current 152) while La Couronne will become a grinding unit with 27 staff. Last week, Eric Olsen, LafargeHolcim CEO, said the company was planning to clo...
India: Shree Cements reports 10% rise in quarterly net profit
Shree Cements reported a 10 per cent rise in standalone net profit at INR10.286bn (US$0.151m) for the quarter ended 31 December 2015 compared to a profit of INR9.368bn a year earlier, it said in a Bombay Stock Exchange filing. Income rose by 18 per cent to INR18.288bn in the October-December quarter versus INR154.45bn during the same quarter last fiscal. Total expenses, however rose by 19 p...
China: Huaxin issues profit warning
Huaxin Cement, LafargeHolcim’s subsidiary in China, has warned that it expects 2015 net profit to fall 90-95 per cent YoY due to weak domestic demand, intense competition and a sharp fall in cement prices. JP Morgan’s China cement research team estimates that cement prices in Huaxin’s key markets declined by five per cent QoQ in 1Q16 to-date to CNY254/t. The research house also notes that L...
LafargeHolcim: Reitzle to return to Linde?
LafargeHolcim’s current president, Wolfgang Reitzle, could be returning to Germany-based gas producer Linde to become head of the Supervisory Board after the mandatory two-year waiting period which ends on 20 May 2016, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Mr Reitzle was CEO of Linde between 2003-14 and turned the gas and equipment supplier to a world market leader. However, his appointments ...
Suez Cement to convert Helwan and Torah plants to use coal and RDF
Suez Cement is aiming to convert Torah and Helwan plants to use coal and RDF in addition to the already-used HFO following the conversion of Kattameya and Suez plants in 2015. According to the management, the company would start the conversion operation in February and July for Helwan and Torah plants, respectively. This conversion operation is expected to take 12-18 months and would result ...
UNTHA UK appoints new managing director
UK-based industrial shredding specialist UNTHA UK has appointed a new managing director. Marcus Brew takes the reins at the helm of the company, following a promotion from his previous role of sales director. Chris Oldfield, who has led the shredding business since 1997, will become chairman, concentrating on UNTHA UK’s over-arching strategic direction and other wider ambassadorial responsib...
India: Birla Corp reportedly front-runner for Reliance assets
Birla Corp Ltd is set to buy the cement assets of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd with the deal set to be sealed within the next few days, according to local media reports. “It will be signed formally in the coming days,” said one of the two people cited above. “Even though discussions took nearly a month’s time to finalise, other contenders weren’t really considered for the sale,” LiveMint repor...
China Shanshui unit takeover
China Shanshui Cement Group said it has taken over the headquarters of its main operating unit, Shandong Shanshui Cement Group Ltd, following a management dispute. The Chinese manufacturer "has smoothly taken over the headquarters and additional three factories” of the Shandong Shanshui Cement, with the assistance of the local police in the northern city of Jinan, it said in a filing dated 31...
Eagle Materials improves cement profit
Including its share of the jointly-owned Texas Lehigh Cement, the turnover of Eagle Materials for the first nine months to 31 December 2015 increased by 3.5 per cent to US$973.9m. The trading profit before corporate overheads declined by 16.4 per cent to US$206.4m, of which cement contributed 56.2 per cent compared with 39.1 per cent a year earlier. The group trading profit was off by 18.4...
Pakistan: Kohat half-year profit up 54%
Kohat Cement Company Ltd’s profit climbed 54 per cent to PKR2.10bn (US$20m) in the half-year ended 31 December 2015 on increased sales and other income as well as decreased finance cost and energy prices, analysts said. The cement manufacturer reported a profit of PKR1.36bn in the same period a year earlier. “Decreases in energy prices coupled with increased sales volume are the primary re...
HeidelbergCement to modernise Schelklingen
HeidelbergCement will invest EUR100-150m in its Schelklingen works, Germany, according to Hans Georg Kraut, director of the works. The new kiln will not alter the 4700tpd clinker capacity of the plant, but will significantly reduce emissions and energy consumption. Later this year, the old kiln will be disassembled and a new kiln built in its place. The second old kiln at the site will also...