Displaying items by tag: Results
Brazil: Markets in Brazil and North America have supported Votorantim Cimentos’ sales so far in 2019, despite setbacks in Turkey and Latin America. Its sales revenue rose by 2% year-on-year to US$907m in the first nine months of 2019 from US$891m in the same period in 2018. Overall sales volumes of cement fell slightly to 8.4Mt. The cement producer’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 5% to US$188m from US$199m, with declines reported in all operation regions except North America.
Taiwan Cement’s profit rises on cement prices
19 November 2019Taiwan: Taiwan Cement’s profit has risen so far in 2019 due to stable cement prices and falling coal prices. Its net profit increased by 11.1% year-on-year to US$214m in the first nine months of 2019, according to the Taipei Times newspaper. However, its sales revenue fell by 3.5% to US$2.87bn. The cement producer says it has a production capacity of 102Mt/yr following the formation of a joint venture in Turkey and an acquisition in Portugal in 2018.
The company reported higher labour, transportation and raw material costs in China in the third quarter of 2019. Its expenses were also inflated by environmental upgrades. Company president John Li said, that despite falling prices in Guizhou province, demand in regional markets, including Guangdong, Guangxi and Jiangsu provinces was expected to remain beneficial.
Arabian Cement’s local sales fall so far in 2019
19 November 2019Egypt: Arabian Cement’s sales revenue fell by 5% year-on-year to US$139m in the first nine months of 2019 from US$147m in the same period in 2018. Local sales dropped whilst export sales and services rose. Its profit for the period after tax decreased to US$2m from US$13.3m.
Cementos Argos shares results
14 November 2019Colombia: Cementos Argos’ revenue in the three months to 30 September rose by 44% year-on-year to US$1.52bn for US$1.06bn. Lower sales across its cement and concrete sections caused the company’s three-month profit to drop by 65% year-on-year to US$10.3m over the period from US$29.6m. Higher costs also offset the income from the sale of the group’s Barranquilla natural gas power station to Glenfarne Group for US$420m in the quarter.
Misr Cement Qena’s third-quarter profit falls 67% year-on-year
14 November 2019Egypt: Misr Cement Qena’s profit in the three months to 30 September took a 67% year-on-year dive to US$1.85m from US$5.56m. Sales continued on an upward trend, ending the period up by 6.3% at US$146m from US$138m in the corresponding period of 2018.
Misr Beni Suef’s third-quarter sales rise by 24%
14 November 2019Egypt: Misr Beni Suef’s sales over the three months to 30 September 2019 were US$29.6m, up by 24% from US$23.9m in the corresponding period of 2018. This growth failed to offset the challenges of profitability in a saturated market, with profit falling by 2.7% year-on-year to US$1.34m from US$1.37m.
Gulf Cement falls into loss-making in first nine months of 2019
14 November 2019UAE: Gulf Cement’s losses in the nine-month period to 30 September 2019 were US$1.06m, compared to a US$0.44m profit in the corresponding period of 2019. This was caused by a fall in nine-month revenue of 8.3% year-on-year to US$92.8m from US$101m.
Third quarter update 2019 for the major cement producers
13 November 2019As most of the larger cement producers have released their financial results for the third quarter of 2019 it’s time to see how they are doing so far this year.
Graph 1: Revenue from major cement producers, Q1 - 3 2019. Source: Company reports.
Graph 2: Cement sales volumes by major cement producers, Q1 - 3 2019. Source: Company reports.
LafargeHolcim is looking good, with rises in both its net sales and earnings on a like-for-like basis. The sale of its assets in South-East Asia earlier in the year and in 2018 may have appeared to reduce its figures, but the like-for-like growth suggests that the strategy its working. This has been driven by markets in Europe and North America as its other big market, Asia, has continued to slide. The latter vindicates the group’s decision to partly leave the region, in the short term at least. It’s also interesting to note that at the macro-scale LafargeHolcim’s ready-mixed concrete (RMX) sales fell by 1.3% on a like-for-like basis to 7.4Mm3 in the first nine months of 2019. What does this mean for a building materials company that has been moving towards the whole supply chain and concrete?
Anhui Conch Cement reported cement and clinker sales volumes of 202Mt in the first half of 2019, a 42% year-on-year growth for the same period in 2018. Its revenue increased by 42% year-on-year to US$15.9bn in the first nine months of 2019 from US$11.1bn in the same period in 2018, putting it ahead of Germany’s HeidelbergCement in sales terms. The group was coy on how it actually managed to boost its sales so fast in a country where cement sales only rose by 5% in the first half of the year. Yet, it did admit to slowing sales growth in West China in the first half. A 5% fall in fuel and power costs no doubt helped its profit margins also. Notably, its overseas sales nearly doubled to US$143m in the first half of 2019 or 2% of its total revenue.
HeidelbergCement’s financials were solid, with growing revenue, earnings and profits. This was balanced by falling cement and clinker sales volumes. Cement sales fell in all group regions with the exception of North America. However, it was able to boast about ‘positive results in all group countries in the third quarter except for Egypt’s. Company head Bernd Scheifele summarised the sitaution by saying that, “price increases and strict cost discipline more than compensated for the slightly weaker demand for our products in the third quarter.”
Of the building materials companies with larger revenues, Cemex has had a tougher time of it so far in 2019 with declining sales, cement volumes and earnings. In part this has been due to a poor market in Mexico, although chief executive officer (CEO) Fernando A Gonzalez said that the group believed that weak demand for their products was ‘bottoming out’ and that a new infrastructure program made them hopeful looking forward. The group’s Middle East and Africa region also caused concern with a 3% drop in sales volumes in the Philippines, one of its key South-East Asian territories.
Things to note from the smaller producers featured here are as follows. India’s UltraTech Cement says it is the world’s third largest cement producer outside of China. With an installed production capacity of over 100Mt/yr in India this may well be the case. The vast majority of this is based at home in India. Alongside this, its financial figures seem buoyant as it continues to integrate new acquisitions such as Century Textiles and Industries into the business. By contrast Africa’s Dangote Cement has endured mixed fortunes so far 2019 with a modest rise in cement sales volumes and small drop in revenue and a larger decline in earnings in both Nigeria and operations elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. At home this has been attributed to a subdued economy and elsewhere it has pointed to poor markets in South Africa, Zambia and Ethiopia. On the positive side though promotional marketing activity at home in Nigeria helped support an improved third quarter.
Summarising all of this is difficult given the very different nature of these large companies. Generally most of these companies are growing. One takeaway to consider is the emergence of two types of cement producer models at the top end: multinationals and large-local players. In recent years the rise of the large-local player has been a story mirroring the economic prominence of China and India. One can also see it in places like Indonesia and Brazil. The worry is that these kinds of companies are more exposed to regional economic risks than multinational ones. Yet in 2019 some multinational cement producers are also having problems. Whatever else happens, if fears of a new global recession come true, then these larger scale producer models will be tested, possibly to breaking point.
Strong cement earnings continue for Eagle Materials
12 November 2019US: Eagle Materials has reported financial results for the second quarter of its 2020 fiscal year, a period that ended on 30 September 2019. Its overall revenue was US$414.5m for the period, a 9% year-on-year improvement.
Revenues from its cement activities, including joint venture and intersegment revenue, were up by 18% to US$227m, reflecting improved sales volume and net sales prices. Cement sales volume for the quarter were a record 1.8Mt, up by 14% compared to the prior year quarter. Operating earnings from cement were also a record at US$66.5m, 16% higher than the same quarter a year ago. The earnings improvement was primarily due to higher sales volume and net sales prices.
Commenting on the second quarter results, Michael Haack, President and CEO, said, "We are proud to have achieved record revenue and net earnings per share for the second quarter of our 2020 fiscal year. Our second quarter performance was driven mostly by increased cement shipments, cost control initiatives and strong operational execution, as we capitalised on the robust underlying demand across our geographic footprint.”
Commenting on the remaining six months of its 2020 fiscal year, Haack said “The outlook continues to be positive. Demand for our building materials and construction products is supported by a number of favourable market dynamics including ongoing growth in jobs, high consumer confidence and low interest rates."
Taiheiyo reports on six-month results
12 November 2019Japan: Taiheiyo Cement made a net profit of US$150m in the six months to 30 September 2019. This was a fall from US$160m in the same period of 2018. Its revenue for the same period of the 2019 fiscal year was US$395m, a fall from US$402m a year earlier. For the full year to 31 March 2020, Taiheiyo forecasts a net profit of US$570m.