Displaying items by tag: Switzerland
Roland Köhler to chair LafargeHolcim Foundation
28 March 2018Switzerland: Roland Köhler has been appointed as the chairman of the board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction. He succeeds Rolf Soiron, the founding chairman of the Foundation since 2003, with effect from 1 April 2018.
Brinda Somaya, Principal Architect & Managing Director of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants in Mumbai, India and Stuart Smith, Director of Arup, a multinational engineering Group based in London, UK have also been appointed as new members to the board of the foundation.
The foundation selects and supports initiatives that combine sustainable construction solutions with architectural excellence and enhanced quality of life beyond technical solutions. Through the non-commercial promotion and development of sustainable construction at national, regional, and global levels, the LafargeHolcim Foundation encourages sustainable responses to the technological, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural issues affecting building and construction.
Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has launched a new five year plan, ‘Strategy 2022 – ‘Building for Growth,’ as it has reported an income loss of Euro1.46bn. It blamed the loss on a, ‘…detailed review of the asset portfolio, and specifically the country risk.’ Its net sales rose by 4.7% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis to Euro22.7bn from Euro23.4bn. Its sales of cement rose by 3.3% on a like-for-like basis to 210Mt from 233Mt.
“In 2017 we made good progress across all key metrics. The growth in sales and the over-proportional increase in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) represent a good performance and give us a very good basis to build on. The fact that four of our five regions reported growing EBITDA is testimony to our global strength,” said group chief executive officer Jan Jenisch. He added that the new strategy is based by a new set of targets that centre on growth, improving profitability, increasing cash generation and better returns for shareholders.
Switzerland: Clothing company Elephbo is selling backpacks made from used Thai cement bags for as much as Euro120. The products have caused amusement in Thailand on social media, according to the Independent newspaper. Used cement bags from Siam Cement and Insee Diamond brands are being used with leather by the Swiss company to make a variety of fashion products including wallets, caps and trainers.
Cem'In'Eu to open first grinding plant in May 2018
23 January 2018France: Cem'In'Eu intends to open its first cement grinding plant in May 2018. The 0.24Mt/yr plant is located at Tonneins in Lot et Garonne, according to Les Echos newspaper. It has had an investment of Euro18m. The company is planning to open new grinding pants at the rate of one per year.
New locations include Chalon-sur-Saone in Saone-et-Loire, Portes-lès-Valence in Drôme, Montreuil-Bellay in Maine-et-Loire and Mulhouse-Ottmarsheim. Internationally the company is also considering new plants in London in the UK, Poland, Switzerland and Germany. Financing for the company is provided by Pergam, a French private equity firm that has already raised Euro33m.
Switzerland: The IndustriALL Global Union and Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) have expressed their dismay at LafargeHolcim’s failure to sign a global framework agreement intended to support industrial relations. The company signed a memorandum of understanding committing to sign the agreement in July 2017. However, the unions’ say that LafargeHolcim backed out of the deal in late December 2017, saying that its current internal arrangements were sufficient.
The unions, together with other international and national partners, have called on LafargeHolcim to sign the agreement, stop poor treatment of sub-contracted and third party workers by the company and to prioritise the health and safety of all of its workers.
“This recent decision to break the agreement on building a social dialogue further damages the credibility of the company. We strongly believe that the shareholders, board of directors and all decision makers in LafargeHolcim must think carefully what the future will hold for LafargeHolcim if this destructive approach prevails,” said Valter Sanches, the General Secretary of IndustriALL.
Update on Switzerland
10 January 2018Recent data from Cemsuisse, the Swiss Cement Industry Association, shows that cement shipments fell by 2.8% year-on-year to 4.3Mt in 2017. The local industry has fluctuated from a high of just below 4.7Mt in 2011 with various peaks and troughs since then as can be seen in Graph 1. The current drop has been blamed on a poor start and end to 2017 despite some rallying activity in the third quarter.
Graph 1: Cement deliveries in Switzerland, 2010 – 2017. Source: Cemsuisse.
The local industry tends to get overlooked somewhat due to its modest size, its geographically landlocked position and its exclusion from the European Union (EU) despite being surrounded by member states. This is a mistake though because the territory offers lessons on how a developed cement industry can function and co-exist with a large neighbour. In Switzerland’s case it has access to the EU market through a series of bilateral agreements that provide parity with EU legislation. After a potential crisis over immigration following a local referendum in 2014, Switzerland and the EU came to an agreement in 2016 that softened the labour rules for foreigners. Pertinent to the cement industry, the EU and Switzerland signed a deal to link emissions trading systems in 2017. It is currently anticipated to come into force in 2019. Trading in the EU may come at the price of free movement of labour but emissions trading parity will also help to protect Switzerland’s cement plants.
The country has a cement production capacity of 4.3Mt/yr according to Global Cement Directory 2017 data. This divides into three plants operated by LafargeHolcim, two by Ireland’s CRH’s local subsidiary Jura Cement and one by Vigier Cement, a subsidiary of France’s Vicat. Most of these plants are around the 0.8Mt/yr mark, with the exception of Jura’s smaller Cornaux plant.
After a strong performance in 2016 with growing cement sales volumes, LafargeHolcim started 2017 with continued positive cement sales but this failed to compensate for low aggregate sales and falling ready-mix (RMX) concrete sales. CRH reported a similar experience that it blamed on poor weather at the start of the year and a competitive environment. This then led to an 8% fall in cement sales in the first nine months of 2017 with RMX sales and operating profit down too. Vicat’s experience in the country followed that of its competitors, with cement sales rising slightly over the first three quarters but concrete and aggregate sales dropping. Among other reasons it blamed the situation on the completion of road and civil engineering projects.
Cembureau, the European Cement Association of which Cemsuisse is a member, forecast a stable year in 2017 following the wind-down of infrastructure projects with support from the housing sector. However, it then expected the market to soften as demographic trends saw slower growth in population reduce housing demand. This state appears to have arrived early. On the plus side though the industry’s sustainability credentials have grown as the split between truck and train transport of cement hit its highest ratio in favour of rail in 2017 at 53%. The trend switched from truck to train in 2013 and it hasn’t looked back since then.
As a mature economy in the heart of Europe, Switzerland generally pops up in the industry news as the home of the world’s largest non-Chinese cement multinational, LafargeHolcim. That company’s headquarters are in Jona and Holcim had its headquarters in Holderbank. LafargeHolcim’s single largest shareholder, with an 11% share, is the Swiss billionaire Thomas Schmidheiny, who inherited his portion of the family business. He notably called for a better deal for Holcim during the merger negotiations between Lafarge and Holcim in 2015 and boardroom struggles have dogged the combined company ever since. Consideration should also be granted to the country’s other engineering and construction industry related multinationals such as ABB, Sika and the like. By the numbers Switzerland has a case for being one of the world’s most important nations for the cement industry.
Swiss cement deliveries down in 2017
08 January 2018Switzerland: Data from the Swiss Cement Industry Association (Cemsuisse) report that cement shipments fell by 2.8% year-on-year to 4.3Mt in 2017. In 2016 shipments rose by 4.2% to 4.4Mt, according to the Swiss Telegraphic Agency. An initial drop in shipments in the first half of 2017 was partly absorbed by better trading subsequently. However, the fourth quarter of 2017 saw falling sales volumes. Rail shipments increased considerably, by 53%, during 2017.
LafargeHolcim makes changes to management structure
15 December 2017Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has changed its management structure to make it more market focused. It has appointed Marcel Cobuz as the head of its European region and René Thibault as the head of its North American division. Two of the group’s global business functions, Performance & Cost and Growth & Innovation, will be merged into a new corporate department, Growth & Performance, under one leadership. Further changes will be made to the reporting of its regions with the addition of Mexico to its Latin America region, the addition of Australia and New Zealand to Asia and its Chinese and Trading divisions will now report directly to the group’s chief executive officer (CEO).
“Establishing a market-focused management organisation is an important step towards generating an attractive growth profile and taking the company to its next level of performance,” said CEO Jan Jenisch. “The strengthening of the profit and loss responsibility of the countries and the simplification of global business functions will create a leaner and more agile operating model. Countries will be fully empowered and accountable for market strategies, cost discipline and results. The new organisation will be complemented by a strengthened performance management system focusing on growth, cash conversion, capital efficiency and people development.”
The group’s 30 largest country organisations will directly report to the Executive Committee and the global business functions will be merged under one leadership. As a result of these changes, the Executive Committee will be reduced to nine members. All of the management changes will take effect from 1 January 2018.
Marcel Cobuz, aged 47 years, has been appointed as Head Region Europe and a member of the Executive Committee. He succeeds Roland Köhler, who has decided to retire. Cobuz, a Romanian and French citizen, joined LafargeHolcim in 2000. He has held various operational roles in six different countries and has been country chief executive officer (CEO) in Indonesia, Iraq and Morocco.
Köhler will retire at the beginning of 2018. He has worked for LafargeHolcim and its predecessors for more than 30 years and has been a member of the Executive Committee since 2010, most recently as the Head of Europe, Trading and Oceania. Köhler will continue to support LafargeHolcim as chairman of the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction. He will also continue to represent the group as a non-executive director in local subsidiaries of the company.
René Thibault, aged 51 years, was been appointed as Head Region North America and a member of the Executive Committee. He succeeds Pascal Casanova, who has decided to pursue opportunities outside of the group. Thibault, a Canadian citizen, joined LafargeHolcim in 1989 and has held various roles in France and Canada. He has been the CEO of Western Canada since 2012.
Urs Bleisch, currently Head of Performance & Cost and Member of the Executive Committee, has been appointed Head of Growth & Performance. Gérard Kuperfarb, Head of Growth & Innovation, has decided to pursue a career outside the group.
Finally, the group’s new chief financial officer (CFO), Géraldine Picaud, will take over the role on 3 January 2018, earlier than the February 2018 date that was originally announced.
Report claims Lafarge Syria paid US$5.6m to groups in Syria
24 November 2017Syria: A report into the alleged activities of Lafarge Syria, now part of LafargeHolcim, claims that the company paid a total of US$5.6m to a number of local factions in Syria, including to the Islamic State group, between July 2012 and September 2014. The report by the US consultant Baker McKenzie in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers was first reported upon by the French satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîne (The Chained Duck).
According to Le Canard enchaîne, a large portion of the payments were paid to ensure the safety of local staff and the free movement of Lafarge trucks, often blocked by fighters at checkpoints. Groups were also reportedly paid as suppliers, as they controlled access to heavy fuel oil or certain raw materials in part of the region. The document prepared by Baker McKenzie states that the Islamic State group could have collected at least US$500,000. The French Ministry of the Economy took legal action in 2016 on possible offenses committed by the cement group Lafarge by operating a plant in Syria, despite EU bans.
LafargeHolcim has maintained its stance that it ‘deeply regrets and condemns the unacceptable mistakes made in Syria’ and states that it called a central investigation as soon as it became aware of the irregularities. On 14 November 2017, police raided LafargeHolcim's offices in Paris and those of its 9.4% shareholder Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) in Brussels, Belgium. An investigation into the activities continues.
Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has grown its sales and earnings on a like-for-like basis so far in 2017. Its net sales rose by 4.3% on a like-for-like basis to Euro16.7bn in the first nine months of 2017 from Euro17.5bn in the same period in 2016. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) adjusted rose by 9.2% to Euro3.69bn. Cement sales volumes fell to 156Mt from 177Mt although this was reported as a rise of 1.8% on a like-for-like basis.
The cement producer attributed its gains to positive contributions from markets in Latin America, North America and Europe. However, market conditions were reported to be challenging in Asia Pacific and Middle East Africa where it said that actions are being taken to address weakness in key countries.
“While the company delivered solid quarterly results, they do not reflect our full potential. As the market leader, we will hold ourselves to a higher standard than anyone else in our sector,” said Jan Jenisch, group chief executive officer (CEO) of LafargeHolcim. “Today we have reset expectations for the group’s outlook to a level that reflects the current business dynamics. While I am reviewing the business, I have an immediate focus on simplification, cost discipline and performance management.”