Displaying items by tag: CRH
CRH sells building envelope business
04 May 2022Ireland: CRH has completed its divestment of its building envelope business. The group has reported the value of the deal as US$3.8bn.
In February 2022, CRH said that it had entered into a binding agreement to divest the building envelope business to US-based private equity firm KPS Capital Partners. It added that the decision to divest at an ‘attractive valuation’ followed a comprehensive review, demonstrating its active approach to portfolio management, the efficient allocation of capital and the creation of a simpler and more focused group.
Eqiom launches CEM II/C cements in France
29 April 2022France: Eqiom has launched its new reduced-CO2 CEM II/C cement range on the French market. The range includes the Portland limestone, slag and clinker filler CEM II/CM (SL) 42.5 N cement produced at its La Rochelle cement plant. The cement is the first product to obtain NF certification from the Scientific and Technical Center for Building (CSTB) under its new standard designation EN 195-5. The producer says that in mid-2022 EN 197-5 will assimilate into the EN 206/CN standard for use in structural concrete.
Eqiom said that the range will offer its customers a more sustainable alternative to its other NF EN 197-1 certified compositions. La Rochelle cement plant operations manager Ahmed Mansouri said “We are proud of this result, which is the result of close collaboration between the different Eqiom teams. This commitment has made it possible to provide our customers with a solution with low CO2 emissions while guaranteeing sufficient performance so as not to impact practices on the construction sites.”
Ireland: CRH’s first-quarter consolidated sales rose by 15% year-on-year in 2022. Its Americas Materials business’ sales rose by 13%, while its Europe Materials business sales rose by 11%. Cement volumes in the Americas region remained in line with 2021 levels as strong Central and Southern regional demand offset weather-impacted performances in Canada and some Western regions, and the company noted ‘good’ price momentum in Canada and the US. The company’s Europe Materials business recorded some volume increases, partly due to favourable weather conditions.
During the quarter, CRH made US$600m-worth of new acquisitions, and retains a ‘strong’ opportunities pipeline. The group says that its integrated solutions strategy continues to deliver across all divisions.
Chief executive officer Albert Manifold said “Although a number of challenges and uncertainties continue, our demand backdrop remains favourable and, absent any major dislocations in the macroeconomic environment, we expect first-half sales, earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and margin to be ahead of the prior year period.” During the first half of 2022, the company also expects to complete US$600m-worth of its on-going share buyback programme.
Switzerland: Jura Cement has commissioned a regenerative thermal oxidation system at its Wildegg plant. The air pollution control system, supplied by Dürr, was installed to meet anticipated lower gas emission limits for carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and ammonia (NH3).
France: CRH subsidiary Eqiom has successfully commissioned its Gennevilliers construction waste recycling pilot plant. Prior to the plant’s opening, Eqiom recycled 10,000t of construction waste in the first quarter of 2022. It is now aiming to recycle 50,000t in 2022.
The company says that its continual efforts are making the circular economy possible in the construction sector.
Canada: Jean Boulet, the labour minister of Quebec, has called for an end to a long-running labour dispute at Ash Grove’s Joliette cement plant that has been running since mid-2021. Around 130 members of the Unifor union were locked out by management, according to Postmedia Breaking News. In a message on social media Boulet invited the parties to "concentrate their efforts at the negotiation table with a conciliator." The union alleges that company owner CRH has been importing raw materials to make cement from Greece or Turkey whilst the workers have been excluded from the plant. Negotiations will continue in mid-April 2022.
Eqiom secures European Commission Innovation Fund funding for Lumbres cement plant upgrade
04 April 2022France: The European Commission (EC) has awarded funding under its Innovation Fund 2021 for CRH subsidiary Eqiom’s upgrade to its Lumbres, Hauts-de-France, cement plant. The work includes the replacement of a kiln and the installation of a carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) system at the plant, in collaboration with Air Liquide. The producer says that the project is one of seven selected under the EC’s K6 programme of innovation funding in line with the EU Green Deal.
How much does Holcim value Russia?
30 March 2022The economic fallout from the war in Ukraine continued this week with the news that Holcim plans to leave the Russian market. It said that it took the decision based on its “values to operate in the most responsible manner.” The company’s Russian subsidiary added that all of its plants would continue to operate as normal while it considered its divestment options.
Holcim’s road to withdrawal has been staggered. In February 2022 at the start of the war it pronounced its sympathy for any affected colleagues and their families and made a Euro1m donation to the Red Cross. Later it said that it would continue operating its business in Russia by following all regulations and supplying the local market. However, at this time it said it would suspend further capital investments in Russia and that it would “not benefit from our presence in this market.”
It’s unknown what prompted Holcim to take the plunge with Russia one month after the war started. At the very least, making decisions over assets valued this highly takes time. CM Pro has reported that the Russian government has considered introducing reference prices for building materials for infrastructure projects and that the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has been monitoring prices for ‘unreasonable’ growth over the last month. This follows grumbling by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in late 2021 about an apparent low capacity utilisation rate in the country despite shortages in the Central Federal District.
CRH said that it was leaving its Russian concrete business in early March 2022. Yet the decision by Holcim makes it the first of the three western multinational cement producers with large-scale operations in Russia to publicly say it’s pulling out. Holcim, HeidelbergCement and Buzzi Unicem each operate at least two integrated cement plants in the region.
Lafarge entered the Russian market in 1996. Its successor Holcim runs plants at Voskresensk and Kolomna in the Moscow region, at Ferzikovo in the Kaluga region and Volsk in the Saratov region. Together the plants have a production capacity of around 9Mt/yr. Over the last decade Holcim and its predecessor has invested at least a reported Euro1.3bn in three of the plants. The dry-production line Ferzikovo plant was built in 2015. The Shchurovsky plant in Kolomna was originally founded in 1870 and claims to be the oldest in the country. In 2011 it started commissioned a new dry production line. The Volsk plant started a modernisation project in 2017. The fourth, the Voskresensk plant, was mothballed in 2016. However, in early February 2022 LafargeHolcim Russia said it was aiming to spend Euro23m towards restarting production at the site. This was likely due to a boom in construction in 2021. The subsidiary also owns three aggregate quarries in the Republic of Karelia region of the country, near the border with Finland.
Selling up in Russia looks set to be difficult for Holcim. This is principally due to the European and American economic sanctions and the Russian government’s stated intention to nationalise the assets of any company trying to leave. This is clearly why Holcim has worded its plans so vaguely. If or when a peace deal is reached between Russia and Ukraine, the business environment could change significantly, depending on the terms, complicating any existing sale process. Determining how much Holcim might want to get from such a sale in these conditions is complex. Smikom bought Eurocement from Sberbank for Euro2.1bn in 2021 giving it 10 plants. Could Holcim realistically expect to sell its plants for around Euro200m each in the current environment? As for the hit Holcim might take, in its annual report for 2021 it said that the group’s Russian operations represented around 1% of the 2021 consolidated net sales. This would have been around Euro260m. Its Russian cement production capacity was reported as being 9Mt/yr in 2021 or 3% of the group’s global figure of 293Mt/yr.
Finally, it is worth noting though that Lafarge’s charges of ‘complicity in crimes against humanity’ also continued to be tested in the French courts this week. The legal case relates to the conduct of Lafarge in Syria between 2011 and 2014. This is totally separate from the situation in Russia but it does highlight the issue of corporate ethics for the group once again. Following proceedings in December 2021, Beat Hess, chair of the board of Holcim said, “The described events concerning Lafarge SA were concealed from the Holcim board at the time of the merger in 2015 and go completely against the values of our company.” Consider that use of ‘values’ again. Holcim may be about to find out how much it is prepared to pay for its values as it departs Russia.
France: Vicat plans to use a kiln at its 1Mt/yr Xeuilley, Meurthe-et-Moselle, cement plant for trials of cement production using new alternative raw materials developed under the international CO2Redres supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) project. The project brings together Vicat, HeidelbergCement subsidiary CBR, Buzzi Unicem subsidiary Cimalux and CRH subsidiary Eqiom in an effort to map mineral resources, waste deposits and usable residues ‘on a cross-border scale.’ On the basis of this research, the partners will seek to develop new SCMs for use in cement production.
Ireland: CRH says that it completed another phase in its on-going share buyback programme on 16 March 2022. The group purchased US$300m-worth of shares, bringing its total cash returned since the beginning of the programme in May 2018 to US$3.2bn. On 17 March 2022, it concluded an agreement to begin the purchase of a further US$300m-worth of its shares by 27 June 2022. The producer instructed investors that any decision in relation to any future buyback programmes will be based on an ongoing assessment of the capital needs of the business and general market conditions.