Cement News tagged under: europe

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Heracles to permanently close Halkis cement works, Greece

27 March 2013, Published under Cement News

Heracles Cement, the largest cement producer in Greece, is to permanently close the doors on its Halkis cement plant as the company restructures its business to adjust to the struggling domestic construction and cement sectors. The 2.6Mta Halkis plant has been idle since July 2011 and management have now made the decision to officially cease operations, as of 26 March 2013. The closure will result in job losses for 236 members of staff. The company stated that: “This decision comes afte...

Euro-area construction output falls 1.4%

20 March 2013, Published under Cement News

Euro-area construction in January 2013 fell 1.4 per cent from the month before as gains in Germany were offset by slumps in Spain and France, according to latest figures by Eurostat. Euro-area construction output fell the most in four months in January following December’s rise of 0.3 per cent, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said yesterday. The December figure had earlier been estimated as a 1.7 per cent drop. France, the euro area’s second-largest economy, show...

Dyckerhoff net profit down on European markets

18 March 2013, Published under Cement News

Buzzi Unicem's subsidiary Dyckerhoff has confirmed that net profit in 2012 fell as declines in Europe could not be offset by volume increases in Russia and the USA. The German-based cement major said in a release on Friday that net attributable profit for the year fell 59.2 per cent from the year before to EUR26.9m. Group EBITDA of fiscal year 2012 amounted to EUR 284.2m including one-time one-time effects of EUR4.8m mainly from the sale of a real estate property in Memphis, US. Positive on...

Cementos Molins to reduce workforce

15 March 2013, Published under Cement News

Spain-based cement producer Cementos Molins is to cut 56 jobs at its St Vicenc dels Horts works due to the ongoing crisis in the domestic construction market. The cutbacks will reduce the total number of employees at the plant by 29.3 per cent, according to reports in Cinco Días.

European cement sector: a strategic contributor to Europe's future – report

07 March 2013, Published under Cement News

A study published by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), commissioned by CEMBUREAU, outlines the competitiveness of the cement industry in Europe and its role in helping the region achieve its goals of developing a sustainable, resource efficient and innovative society. In a statement released yesterday, the European cement association said the report shows that the  cement and concrete industry in Europe contributes to the economy with a total production value of €74bn, a value added of €...

Holcim ahead despite Europe slowdown

04 March 2013, Published under Cement News

Annual results released by Holcim earlier this week show that cement sales for the Swiss major in 2012 were ahead in spite of lower European volumes and political instability in the Middle East. Turnover during the year rose by 3.9 per cent in 2012 to CHF21,544m and in euro terms the increase was 6.4 per cent to EUR17,867m. Operating EBITDA improved 6.2 per cent to EUR3502m before restructuring costs, after which the advance was a mere 0.7 per cent to EUR3304m. The trading profit fell by ...

Holcim less optimistic on European construction market

27 February 2013, Published under Cement News

Holcim said on Wednesday that it was less optimistic about the prospects for the European construction market in 2013 as it reported worse-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter. "While group regions Asia Pacific, North America and Latin America are expected to witness higher sales volumes, Holcim is somewhat less optimistic with regard to Europe and Africa Middle East," the Swiss company said. Like many building supply companies, Holcim has been hit by a slowdown in the European...

Holcim Croatia posts operating loss amid challenging market conditions

21 February 2013, Published under Cement News

Holcim Croatia posted an operating loss of around HRK18.8m (EUR2.5m) last year as the domestic cement industry continues to face difficulties, and the near-term outlook for demand growth remains negligible. "The negative trends that have gripped the construction sector in the past four years and the problems with the collection of claims because of the generally poor liquidity in the country strongly influenced Holcim Croatia's business last year," SeeNew quoted Holcim Croatia CEO Mario G...

Lafarge's 2012 consolidated sales rise on higher prices, emerging markets

20 February 2013, Published under Cement News

Lafarge reported a 3.5 per cent rise in consolidated sales for 2012 driven by price increases across all product lines, higher cement volumes in Latin America and Asia and favourable foreign exchange effects. For this year it sees growth in cement demand with emerging markets continuing to lead the way. The group achieved cost savings of EUR410m in the year, delivering on its cost savings target as its savings plan is gathering pace generating EUR80m of EBITDA in 2012. EBITDA and curre...

EU December construction output falls MoM

20 February 2013, Published under Cement News

Construction output fell by 1.7 per cent in the euro area EA17 and by 2.7 per cent in the EU27 in December 2012, compared with the previous month. The largest monthly declines were seen in Bulgaria, Poland and Germany, in descending order, according to first estimates released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Compared with December 2011, production in December 2012 dropped by 4.8 per cent in the euro area and by 8.5 per cent in the EU27. Compared with 2011, t...