Displaying items by tag: Cementir Holding
Cementir presents mixed results in first half of 2016
01 August 2016Italy: Cementir Holding’s sales revenue has risen by 1.1% year-on-year to Euro481m in the first half of 2016 from Euro476 in the same period in 2015. However, its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 1.5% to Euro72m from Euro73.1 and its net profit fell by 53.7% to Euro11m from Euro23.9m. The group blamed the drop in profit indicators on exchange rate movements.
Sales volumes of cement for the building materials producer rose by 4.8% to 4.75Mt from 4.53Mt. Revenue grew in Scandinavian countries and in Malaysia, it remained stable in Turkey and it fell in Italy, Egypt and China.
Cementir buys Sacci cement business for Euro125m
01 August 2016Italy: Cementir Holding’s subsidiary Cementir Italia has acquired Sacci’s cement and ready-mixed concrete business division for Euro125m. The acquisition has been made by Cementir Sacci, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cementir Italia. A payment of Euro122.5m was made on 29 July 2016. The remainder will be paid in July 2018. A financing contract has been signed with the related party ICAL 2 to finance the acquisition.
Cementir Holding group will operate in Italy through two companies: Cementir Italia and Cementir Sacci, approximately doubling its production capacity, commercial strength and distribution network. The industrial footprint has grown, with the addition of five cement production plants, three distribution terminals and 28 ready-mixed concrete plants. In Italy, total installed capacity will be 6.8Mt/yr and the company’s presence will increase from six to 11 of the country’s regions.
Cementir quietly grows its business
27 July 2016And the winner of the Italcementi assets in Belgium is… Cementir. The Italian multinational cement producer picked up Compagnie des Ciments Belges for Euro312m this week. The deal included all of Italcementi's cement, ready-mix and aggregates assets in Belgium, Italcementi's stake in an existing limestone joint-venture with LafargeHolcim and a portion of HeidelbergCement's limestone quarry in Antoing. It was offered by HeidelbergCement to the European Commission to ensure approval of its acquisition of Italcementi.
The assets from Compagnie des Ciments Belges comprise one 2.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant, three terminals and 10 ready-mix concrete plants. As ever, the add-ons confuse the final price but the deal values the cement production capacity at Euro125/t or US$138/t. This figures seems low compared to the other big sale this week of Holcim Lanka to Siam City Cement. There, the Thai producer picked up an integrated cement plant and a grinding plant with a combined cement production capacity of 1.6Mt/yr for US$400m. That values the cement production capacity at US$250/t.
Increasing its presence in western Europe makes a lot of sense for Cementir. It’s one of the smaller European multinational cement producers with 14 cement plants, often white cement producers, in Italy, Turkey, Denmark, Egypt, the US, China and Malaysia. Altogether this comes to 15.1Mt/yr in cement production capacity. In its press release, Cementir described Gaurain-Ramecroix, the cement plant it is buying, as the largest integrated cement plant in France-Benelux, region with ‘state-of-the-art’ technology and long-life mineral reserves.
Italcementi reported a 2.9% year-on-year fall in cement and clinker sales volumes in Belgium in 2015, noting a general reduction in cement consumption in all areas of the construction industry. The mineral reserves were confirmed at least as environmental clearance as granted and work began at the new Barry quarry at Gaurain-Ramecroix.
Cementir has rebuilt its revenue since hitting a high of Euro1.15bn in 2007 although it dipped again in 2014. Despite this ordinary portland and white cement sales volumes have been slowly falling from a high of 10.5Mt in 2011 to 9.37Mt in 2015. That said though its businesses in Scandinavia generated just under half of its operating revenue in 2015. So far in 2016, total group revenue rose by 2.8% to Euro210m in the first quarter of the year, with a fair portion of that attributable to Scandinavia. Bolting on a cement and concrete business in (relatively) nearby Belgium makes sense in this context provided the construction market eventually rallies.
Yet, another on-going Cementir acquisition back home in Italy may make the company reflect on the risks of buying assets in Belgium. Cementir is drawing closer to purchasing the cement and concrete arm of Sacci as it plans to pick up five cement plants and assorted ready-mix concrete assets for the bargain price of Euro125m, following a protracted bankruptcy. Cementir may remember that Lafarge sold some of these assets to Sacci for Euro290m in 2008 before the situation deteriorated. The top brass at Cementir must be praying that the Sacci’s fate doesn’t await them in Belgium.
Cementir Holding buys Compagnie des Ciments Belges
25 July 2016Belgium: HeidelbergCement, through its subsidiary Ciments Français, has agreed to sell its operations in Belgium, primarily consisting of Italcementi’s Belgian subsidiary Compagnie des Ciments Belges (CCB), to Aalborg Portland Holding, a subsidiary indirectly 100% controlled by Cementir Holding. The transaction has been valued at Euro312m on a cash and debt-free basis. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016.
“With the disposal of the Belgium assets we fulfil the obligation of the European Commission and improve the net financial position of HeidelbergCement after the acquisition of the 45% share in Italcementi,” said Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. “We are well on track to reach our target of at least Euro1bn of proceeds from disposals.”
The divestment of operations in Belgium was offered to the European Commission in order to address competition concerns caused by the group’s acquisition of Italcementi. The sale to Cementir Holding is subject to the approval of the European Commission.
Belgium/US: HeidelbergCement has made a shortlist of potential bidders for assets in Belgium and the US that should be divested as part of its acquisition of Italcementi, according to Bloomberg. Bidders for Italcementi’s Belgian business include Turkey’s Çimsa Çimento and Italy’s Cementir Holding. The business are valued at around US$400m. Bidders for Italcementi’s US assets include Summit Materials and CRH. This business are valued at around US$600m according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. All shortlisted bidders will face a due diligence process.
Report highlights risks to cement producers from future emissions costs and water use constraints
09 June 2016World: A new report released by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has highlighted the potential costs of future CO2 emissions and water supply constraints for 12 of the top global cement producers. CDP’s research shows that, even at a US$10/t CO2 price, US$4.5bn could be wiped off profits, with the least efficient companies most at risk.
By compiling questionnaire responses, the report ranks 12 cement producers for performance across five key areas – emissions, energy and material management, carbon cost exposure, water resilience and carbon regulation supportiveness. It found that LafargeHolcim, Shree Cement and CRH were the least CO2- and resource-intensive producers, with Italcementi, Cementir and Taiheiyo Cement the most highly intensive. Several major Chinese and other regional players failed to respond.
CDP found that many of the major cement companies have emissions targets that are set to expire in the next few years. It argues that, with the Paris Agreement driving towards net zero emissions by the middle of the century, cement companies have a ‘historic opportunity to set targets that can ‘future-proof’ their businesses.’
Tarek Soliman, Senior Analyst, Investor Research at CDP said, “This is the first piece of major research to break down how major players in the cement industry are meeting the challenge of reducing emissions in line with the science called for by the Paris Agreement. Cement will be a crucial building block as the Paris Agreement is put into effect, as it accounts for 5% of the world’s man-made emissions. The results couldn’t be clearer for companies and investors: a tipping point for cement companies is not far away.”
“As carbon-related regulatory measures inevitably tighten and the carbon price signal strengthens, investors will expect both strategic and rapid changes from cement companies, including better use of currently available options as well as investment in longer–term ones, whether this be in areas such as low-carbon product development or the deployment of carbon capture, use and storage.”
Italy: Cementir has made a loss of Euro6m in the first quarter of 2016. It made a profit before tax of Euro3.8m in the same period in 2015. It reported that its revenue rose by 2.8% to Euro210m from Euro205m. Its sales volumes of grey and white cement rose by 8.7% to 2.01Mt from 1.85Mt.
The Italian cement producer reported strong performances in the Scandinavian countries, Malaysia and Egypt. Sales revenue in Turkey increased in the quarter but this was offset by currency fluctuations. In China revenue fell by 9% year-on-year in the period. In Italy revenue fell by 8% due to a fall in sales volumes of cement.
Italy: Cementir Italia has had its Euro125m offer to purchase Sacci SpA approved by the Italian Antitrust Authority, the company has said in a statement. The competition body gave its approval to Cementir Italia’s owner, Cementir Holding.
Cementir Italia submitted its offer for the business in November 2015. The target assets comprise five cement production plants in central and northern Italy, three terminals, several ready-mixed concrete facilities, most of which in central Italy, a transport service and some equity interests in other companies.
Cementir Italia will pay part of the acquisition price upon closing of the transaction and the remainder within 24 months from completion, Cementir said in a previous statement. The first part of the payment is subject to adjustment, it added. Cementir plans to finance the acquisition with new and existing debt.
Cementir profit rises by 3.1% to Euro103m in 2015
11 February 2016Italy: Cementir Holding has reported that its profit rose by 3.1% year-on-year to Euro103m in 2015 from Euro100m in 2014. Its revenue rose by 2.2% to Euro969m from Euro948m. It attributed the growth to good performance of operations in the Scandinavian countries, Malaysia, Italy and Egypt.
“The Group ended 2015 with earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in excess of the target of Euro190m. Improved performance in Scandinavian countries and Italy, plus the stable contribution of the Far East, offset the lower earnings in Turkey and Egypt caused by socio-political tensions across the Mediterranean and the Middle East, as well as the negative impact of the depreciation of some foreign currencies,” said Francesco Caltagirone Jr, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cementir. He added that the group reduced its net debt to Euro222m in 2015.
The Italy-based building materials company produced 9.37Mt of cement in 2015, a decrease of 2% year-on-year from 9.56Mt in 2014.
Italy's antitrust body opens probe into alleged cement price fixing
27 November 2015Italy: Italy's antitrust authority has opened an investigation into four cement companies for alleged price fixing and, with the tax police, has searched the offices of the companies, according to Reuters. The companies under investigation are Buzzi Unicem, Cementir Italia, Industria Cementi Giovanni Rossi and Holcim Italia.
"The case concerns the possibility of an agreement to coordinate cement sales price increases," said the authority in a statement.
Holcim Italia, part of LafargeHolcim, confirmed the inspections. It said that the company had always acted according to the law and has 'policies and procedures in place that are designed to ensure compliance with principles and rules of fair competition prohibiting anti-competitive behaviour and the abuse of a dominant market position.' Buzzi said that it is confident that it will be able to demonstrate during the investigation that it had always acted in compliance with competition law.