Cement News tagged: Corporate
Moody's upgrades Italcementi outlook
Moody's has confirmed Italcementi's Ba3 rating and upgraded the company's outlook from 'stable' to 'positive' following the successful conclusion of the Italian cement major's 'i.150' project. The same rating is affirmed for Italcementi's Euro Medium Term Note Programme (EMTN) programme and for its subsidiary Italcementi Finance. Following the recent transaction which led Italcementi to co...
Cementos Yura invests PEN140m in 2014 to date
Cementos Yura of Peru has invested PEN140m (US$50m) in new equipment in the year to date, mainly as a result of the construction of its new cement grinding unit. Grupo Gloria's subsidiary invested US$94m in 2013. The investment is intended to place Cementos Yura in a better position to maintain its local market share and increase its export volumes. Large-scale infrastructure projects such ...
Asia Cement completes Sichuan Lanfeng acquisition, China
Asia Cement (China) Holdings has completed the acquisition of a 100 per cent holding in Sichuan Lanfeng Cement at a consideration of CNY968m (US$156.7m) on Wednesday. Sichuan Lanfeng becomes an indirect non-wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. The 100 per cent equity is held by Asian Cement unit Sichuan Yadong Cement.
Lafarge Africa first-half profit rises 29% YoY
Lafarge Africa said its first-half profit rose 29 per cent to NGN17.75bn (US$109.61m), compared with NGN13.80bn in the same period of last year. Gross earnings rose to NGN55.35bn, from NGN49.48bn in the same period last year, the company said in a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Italcementi suffers from jump in financing costs
Italcementi's first-half turnover declined by six per cent to EUR2048.4m, but the running EBITDA did improve by 2.2 per cent to EUR304.8m. Helped by a 6.2 per cent reduction in the amortisation and depreciation charge, the trading profit improved by 27.7 per cent to EUR99.8m. A 66.5 per cent jump in financing costs, largely related to interest rate derivatives and derivatives on CO2 hedging...
Buzzi Unicem and Wietersdorfer deal completed
Buzzi Unicem has completed a strategic agreement with Wietersdorfer initially announced in February this year. Under the terms of the deal, Buzzi Unicem is receiving EUR22m from W&P Cementi for its 0.3Mta cement works at Cadola (Italy) and the right to acquire the 0.4Mta Travesio (Italy) cement plant within the next five years. At the same time, Buzzi Unicem is paying some EUR22m for a 25 pe...
Vietnam cement production rises 6.5%
Vietnam produced 4.9Mt of cement in July, up 6.5 per cent from both June 2014 and from the year-ago period, the government’s General Statistics Office (GSO) said. In the first seven months, domestic output is likely to have increased by 4.6 per cent from a year ago to 33.6Mt. However, the GSO has revised down the country’s cement output in June to 4.6Mt from the earlier estimated figure of...
HeidelbergCement plans to start sale of building materials business in September
HeidelbergCement plans to start the process to divest in its building materials unit in September and expects a quick conclusion of the sale, Reuters reported CEO, Bernd Scheifele, as saying. The exact assets that HeidelbergCement is looking to dispose of has not been confirmed but is believed to include bricks, roof tiles and limestone products. The move will allow HeidelbergCement to refocu...
SGC second-quarter declines on weaker demand
Siam Cement Group (SCG) reported a 14 per cent decline in second-quarter net profit due in part to weaker domestic cement demand as months of political unrest have delayed spending on infrastructure projects. Profit for the three months to the end of June fell to THB8.53bn, which was also impacted by lower chemical earnings. SCG chief executive, Kan Trakulhoon, said Thai cement demand is ...
EC extends deadline for Cemex decision
The European Commission has extended the deadline for its decision on whether to clear or block the deal from 5 September to 12 September 2014. A source told Reuters earlier this month that the Commission had objected to the deal after a preliminary review showed that it would significantly reduce competition in certain parts of Spain. Cemex had submitted its concessions on Mond...
Holcim's turnover brought lower by exchange rates
Holcim's cement deliveries improved by two per cent to 70Mt in the first six months, and the underlying advance was 2.8 per cent. Sales of other mineral components recovered by 7.6 per cent to 1.8Mt. Shipments of aggregates edged ahead by 0.2 per cent to 69.6Mt and ready-mixed concrete deliveries declined by three per cent to 18.1Mm³, while asphalt sales rose by 21.8 per cent to 4.1Mt. Turn...
HeidelbergCement improves net profit by 53.5%
HeidelbergCement's first half turnover increased by 2.1 per cent to EUR6318m and the EBITDA improved by 2.1 per cent to EUR927.6m while the trading profit advanced by 8.9 per cent to EUR566.2m. After a net interest charge 3.2 per cent lower at EUR244.7m and other financial items, the pre-tax profit rose by 35.4 per cent to EUR275.4m and the net attributable profit grew by 53.5 per cent to E...
Cementir's growth impeded by the strong euro
Cementir's turnover emerged just 0.1 per cent ahead at EUR472.8m in first half of the year, as the improvement in Denmark and Norway was offset by currency weakness and the continuing decline in Italy. EBITDA, however, rose by 26.4 per cent to EUR78.4m and was helped by a 7.8 per cent reduction in depreciation and similar charges. The trading profit was more than doubled and jumped ahead by...
Molins more than doubles first-half profit
Cementos Molins recorded a profit of EUR17.9m in the first half of 2014, effectively more than doubling its 1H13 figure, on the back of its international business, said the company. The cement company increased its overseas profit by 2.9 per cent to EUR31.6m, but its Spanish subsidiaries recorded a EUR13.6m loss, 39 per cent below the 1H13 level. In the first six months of 2014, consolidat...
Martin Marietta's net profit trebles
Martin Marietta Materials, the fourth-largest US aggregates producer, has announced a first-half turnover 161.9 per cent ahead at US$1097.8m and the EBITDA improved by 23.8 per cent to US$163.8m. The trading profit rose by 73.4 per cent to US$80.3m and after a net interest charge that was 7.4 per cent lower at US$25.1m, the pre-tax profit emerged at US$52.0m compared with US$19.1m and the n...
Holcim Philippines 1H14 net profit up on strong sales
Holcim Philippines booked a net profit of PHP3.32bn (US76.5m) in the first half of 2014, up 8.7 per cent compared to the same period of last year. The country’s largest cement producer registered record sales as construction activity went into full swing during the summer months. Second-quarter revenues rose YoY by 8.5 per cent to PHP1.8bn. “On top of the sustained government and private ...