Cement News tagged under: europe

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US operations boost Cemex’s second quarter results

23 July 2012, Published under Cement News

Cemex has reported its highest quarterly EBITDA since the third quarter of 2009 as a pick-up in US operations helps to offset declines in Europe and Mexico. Net sales reached US$3.9bn during the second quarter of 2012, an increase of 1% on a like-to-like basis for the ongoing operations and adjusting for currency fluctuations, versus 1Q11. Operating EBITDA increased by 11% during the quarter to US$702m versus the same period in 2011. On a like-to-like basis, operating EBITDA increased by ...

Equita sees Buzzi Unicem 2Q EBITDA rising

20 July 2012, Published under Cement News

Brokerage Equita expects Italian cement maker Buzzi Unicem to report second-quarter EBITDA of EUR158m, up by 13% on the year. SeeNews Italy reports that the broker expects the revenue to have grown 9% annually to EUR838m, thanks to the good performance in Russia and the USA which is seen to have offset the weak Italian demand. The sluggish Italian market can lead the management to carrying out a goodwill impairment of the domestic division, Equita said. The analysts lowered their 2012-201...

Euro construction output advances in May

19 July 2012, Published under Cement News

Euro-area construction output rose in May, as advances in Germany and Portugal offset declines in Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Construction in the 17-nation euro area advanced 0.1 per cent from April, when it dropped 3.7 per cent, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said yesterday. From a year earlier, construction output declined 8.4 per cent. In Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, construction output increased 3.1 percent from April, when it fell 5.5 per cent, t...

UBS cuts Buzzi Unicem’s EBIDTA estimates on weak European markets

18 July 2012, Published under Cement News

UBS has cut Buzzi’s 2012 EBITDA projections by three per cent and now expects it to remain flat for the year at EUR424m as lower European demand weighs on the Italian cement major’s performance. The new EBITDA estimates are in line with the group‘s guidance and eight per cent lower than the consensus estimate of EUR460m. The broker has also has cut its recommendation on Buzzi Unicem to “sell” from “neutral” saying that cement demand in Europe has deteriorated significantly. Although ...

From boom to gloom

04 July 2012, Published under Cement News

The European countries of Greece, Spain, Italy and Ireland have witnessed spectacular falls in cement demand from the highs seen in the last decade, as the eurozone sovereign debt crisis firmly takes its hold. With the future of the euro now also hanging in the balance and no immediate cement market recovery in sight, ICR assesses how deep the impact has been on these local markets and outlines measures being undertaken by local producers as they struggle against the downturn. Having ...

CRH first-half development spend EUR0.25bn

03 July 2012, Published under Cement News

CRH plc has completed 18 acquisition and investment initiatives undertaken during the first-half of 2012. The 18 transactions, comprising five in Europe and 13 in the Americas, bring first-half development spend for the Group to approximately €0.25bn, the group said in a development strategy update today. The European deals amounted to an investment of EUR155m. These transactions include a significant addition in Germany to the company’s RMI-oriented Shutters & Awnings business and two ac...

Defending profitability key for European companies

03 July 2012, Published under Cement News

Fitch Ratings says that the ability to defend profitability in emerging countries is the most critical issue for the rating of the European cement companies rated by the agency, Holcim Ltd. ('BBB'/Stable), Lafarge SA ('BB+'/Stable) and HeidelbergCement AG ('BB+'/Stable). In its special report, Fitch compared the current financials of the major European cement companies to the pre-crisis situation to assess if and how geographical diversification helped companies to recover revenue and prese...

CEMBUREAU welcomes new CEO

02 July 2012, Published under Cement News

Koen Coppenholle has become the the new Chief Executive of CEMBUREAU, taking over from  Jean-Marie Chandelle who retired at the end of June. “I will ensure that the voice of our industry sector is heard in the major ongoing policy debates, ranging from the future design of European climate change and energy legislation to the reflection on a resource efficient society. In order to remain successful in Europe, the cement industry needs a competitive environment with an appropriate legal fr...

European construction outlook revised

25 June 2012, Published under Cement News

The increasing perception that Greece will default and exit the eurozone together with rising fears of contagion has led Euroconstruct, a group of research institutes and consulting firms, to significantly downgrade its European construction forecasts for this year and next.   At a meeting held last week, the group said Europe's construction forecasts for this year and next have been downgraded from -0.3% to -2.1% in 2012 and from +1.8% to +0.4% in 2013. Looking further ahead, it highlights...

Eurozone April construction output falls

21 June 2012, Published under Cement News

Construction output in the 17 nations that use the euro dropped 2.7 per cent in April compared to the month before, and five per cent from April 2011, the European Union's official statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday. Eurostat also lowered its estimate for the growth of construction output in March, to 11.4 per cent from 12.4 per cent. The decline in construction during April was widespread across the currency area, with building work down six per cent in Germany, 2.3 per cent in Spain...