Cement News tagged under: France

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Lafarge trims market growth outlook, debt reduction goal on track

26 July 2013, Published under Cement News

Lafarge reported a marked rise in 2Q net profit although consolidated sales declined. The company has now trimmed its forecast for cement market growth this year but confirmed its goal to reduce debt to below EUR10bn this year.  EBITDA fell eight per cent to EUR922m and current operating income declined 11 per cent to EUR667m. Net profit in the second quarter came in at EUR201m compared to EUR39m in the same period last year when earnings were hit by exceptional items. Consolidated sal...

Vicat starts production tests for new cement type

21 June 2013, Published under Cement News

France-based cement producer Vicat has started testing to produce a new low-carbon cement, Alpenat, on an industrial scale in its Créchy dans L’Allier factory. After several years of research the group confirms that it has developed a new cement “with a lower carbon footprint and high technical performance”.The new cement is reported to cut CO2 emissions by 30 per cent.  The industrial-scale tests will run for 10 days and the company expects an output of around 10,000t of cement.

A TEC supplies fuel system to Ciments Calcia, France

04 June 2013, Published under Cement News

A TEC GRECO, specialists in combustion engineering, is to supply Ciments Calcia (part of the Italcementi Group) with a natural gas modification kit to be be implemented at its Couvrot cement plant in France. Due to rising fuel oil costs Ciments Calcia decided to change its complete fuel system on the kiln burner at the plant. In September 2012 the new petcoke system was started up in the already-prepared GRECO kiln burner. At the end of the year Ciments Calcia decided to invest in a natur...

Cement demand in Belgium falls 2.2% while imports rise

30 May 2013, Published under Cement News

Cement demand in Belgium declined 2.2 per cent to 6.41Mt but this decrease was well below the European average decline of 18.8 per cent, according to Belgian cement association Febelcem. Febelcem attributes the figure to local elections, which historically boost public works. The non-residential sector also expanded by three per cent thanks to a numbmer of large projects in Mechelen, Ghent and Halle-Vilvoorde. In 2011, cement consumption reached record 6.55Mt. Looking forward, Febelcem...

Lafarge sales down on 1Q weather effect, confirms 2013 goals

07 May 2013, Published under Cement News

Lafarge reported a six per cent decline in sales in the three months to the end of March as it was impacted by harsh winter weather conditions and production issues in Algeria and Egypt. However, the group said its performance and innovations targets remain on track and the company is on course to achieve its net reduction goal of less than EUR10bn this year. First-quarter volumes were notably affected by a particularly long winter in Europe and North America, together with a high 2012 co...

Vicat advances in Asia and Americas

26 April 2013, Published under Cement News

Vicat's first quarter turnover was ahead by 1.2 per cent to EUR491m, which represents an underlying improvement of 2.7 per cent. Cement turnover was up by 1.8 per cent to EUR304m, with cement shipments advancing by eight per cent to 4.1Mt.  Turnover in concrete and aggregates rose by 6.7 per cent to EUR181m as aggregates shipments rose by 10.1 per cent to 4.73Mt and ready-mixed concrete deliveries jumped by 21.7 per cent to 1.8Mm³. Other products and services registered a 0.4 per cent incr...

Vicat grows in Asia

08 March 2013, Published under Cement News

France-based cement major Vicat reported a 1.2 per cent rise in turnover in 2012 to €2292.2m, but the EBITDA declined by 10.9 per cent to €437.4m and the trading profit fell by 20.8 per cent to €245.2m. The company booked a pre-tax profit 20 per cent lower at €207.6m and the net attributable fell by 21.1 per cent to €129.1m. Net debt was 6.2 per cent higher at €1,144m and represents 46.4 per cent of total shareholders, or 53.7 per cent if minorities are excluded. Capital investment las...

Vicat launches Bharathi brand in south Maharashtra market, India

07 March 2013, Published under Cement News

The Vicat Group has launched its Bharathi cement brand in the south Maharashtra market, which is being supplied from its new plant at Gulbarga, Karnataka. The plant, which has a nominal capacity of 2.8Mta of cement was launched towards the the end of last year, and is a joint venture between Vicat of France and Sagar Cements of India. The main target markets for the Vicat-Sagar plant are various districts in the south such as Kolhapur, Raigarh, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Sindhudurgh, Satara and ...

Italcementi launches five-year bond, Italy

25 February 2013, Published under Cement News

Italcementi, the fifth-largest cement producer in the world, has launched a five-year bond of EUR350m at an issue price of EUR99.477 and a coupon of 6.125 per cent, according to reports in La Stampa. At the closure of the placement, orders exceeded EUR 2.5bn. Credit rating agency Moody's has rated the Italcementi bond Ba2 with a "negative" outlook. For 2013, Moody's expects Italcementi to face challenging market conditions in its key markets Egypt and France and, to a lesser extent, in Mor...

Vicat to cut costs and maintenance expenditure, France

21 February 2013, Published under Cement News

French cement major Vicat is cutting spending on maintenance and other costs as it aims to hold onto domestic market share. Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Vicat Chief Operating Officer Raoul de Parisot, said: “We don’t have any plan to close plants but we’re reducing costs and maintenance expenditure." He further added" “We need our production capacities to maintain market share when demand picks up.” While the French market expanded in 2011, last year consumption saw a contra...