Cement News tagged under: France

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Lafarge to accelerate cost cuts, lower debt

12 June 2012, Published under Cement News

Following the implementation of its new organisation, Lafarge has announced its 2012 to 2015 plan to cut costs by EUR1.3bn over the next four years and bring its net debt below EUR10bn as early as possible next year. The group is targeting a return on capital of more than eight per cent in 2015. Bruno Lafont, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge, said in a statement: "The plan we are presenting today will quickly drive higher returns for our shareholders, significantly strengthe...

Haver & Boecker acquires Newtec Bag Palletizing

31 May 2012, Published under Cement News

Haver & Boecker Holding GmbH has taken full control of Newtec Bag Palletizing by acquiring 100 per cent of its shares from the Newtec International Group SA. Newtec Bag Palletizing is a manufacturer of automatic palletising systems with headquarters in Illzach, France. It has over 1200 references, mainly in the chemical, agricultural and building materials industries. Newtec Bag Palletizing will be an independently operating Group company. This acquisition significantly strengthens the Hav...

Kercim to begin production in 2013

10 May 2012, Published under Cement News

Newly established cement company, Kercim will complete the construction of its plant, in Montoir-de-Bretagne, western France, by the end of this year. Production will start at the beginning of 2013. Kercim has invested EUR44m in the facility has a cement capacity of 600,000tpa. Abstracted from an original article in Les Echos

Lafarge shares rise on Hollande election

07 May 2012, Published under Cement News

Shares in Lafarge are among the top gainers on France’s CAC-40 index as investors expect government spending on social housing to increase under France’s newly elected president, Francois Hollande. Lafarge’s stock rose 2.4%, more than offsetting the sharp drop suffered on Friday following weak US economic data.

Vicat

03 May 2012, Published under Cement News

Vicat's first quarter turnover declined by 5.4% after a very strong first quarter in the previous year. The cement turnover was off by 4.4% to €255m, with cement shipments declining by 5.6% to 3.79Mt. Turnover in concrete and aggregates declined by 9.8% to €162m as aggregates shipments were down by 14.8% to 4.29Mt and ready-mixed concrete deliveries fell by 16.6% to 1.48Mm³. Other products and services registered a 2.7% increase in turnover to €68m. The lower volumes reflected less favoura...

Lafarge extends EUR1.2bn credit facility, France

20 March 2012, Published under Cement News

Lafarge said Tuesday it has extended its syndicated credit facility by two years from July 2013 to July 2015 for a total amount of EUR1.2bn. The extended facility supported by 24 lenders complements Lafarge’s bilateral lines of EUR2.2bn and brings total committed credit facilities to EUR3.4bn, Dow Jones reports. In total, these lines have an average maturity of 2.8 years and do not include any default clauses linked to financial covenants, credit ratings or Material Adverse Change (MAC).

Lamarche to be named on Lafarge's board

20 March 2012, Published under Cement News

Gerard Lamarche, managing director of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, will be named on the board of French cement maker Lafarge. He will replace Thierry de Rudder. Lamarche, 50, graduated from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium. He also completed the advanced management programme at the INSEAD Business School. Abstracted from an original article in Le Figaro.

S&P revises down Lafarge outlook to ‘negative’

14 March 2012, Published under Cement News

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has revised its outlook on Lafarge from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’ while keeping its BB+ long-term and B short-term credit ratings on the French cement producer. A revision to the outlook is possible, the ratings agency has said. S&P stated that the group may not be able to improve credit metrics in 2012 from the very weak levels registered at the end of 2011. The agency noted that Lafarge’s earnings declined in 2011 due to a difficult operating environment which saw ri...

Vicat improves turnover, but profits decline

13 March 2012, Published under Cement News

Turnover improved by 25.5% in 2011 to €2265.5m, but the profitability declined, mainly because of Egypt and to a lesser extent the United States, and the EBITDA came off by 2.6% to €490.9m, while the trading profit declined by 8.1% to €309.5m. Primarily as a result of the expansion in Asia, the a net interest charge jumped by 60.5% to €43.9m and with a lower contribution from associates, the pre-tax profit came down by 16.0% to €259.5m and the net attributable fell by 19.3% to €163.6m.  ...

High court halts Lafarge plans to close Frangey site, France

13 March 2012, Published under Cement News

The French High Court has blocked Lafarge’s plan to close its plant in Frangey, northern France until 25 November 2012. SeeNews France reports that the court has also annulled the group’s restructuring plan, but said the economic reasons for halting activity at the site were valid. Lafarge management will propose to staff representatives to resume negotiations for a new restructuring plan starting from November 2012. The Frangey facility employs 74. The Lafarge group had said its decisio...