08 July 2014
US: In 2014 ExxonMobil's Equipment Builder Group is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The group specialises in working alongside leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in more than 150 countries to develop high-performance lubricants.
Sephaku Cement posts US$1.37m loss in its first year 08 July 2014
South Africa: Costs relating to Sephaku Holdings' new cement business Sephaku Cement dragged the group to a loss in the year that ended in March 2014, though management has said that indications are positive for its cement venture.
Sephaku Holdings has a 36% share of Sephaku Cement, which in January 2014 completed the construction of two plants in North West Province and Mpumalanga. Nigeria's Dangote Cement is the majority shareholder in Sephaku Cement. Sephaku Holdings reported a post-tax loss of US$260,300 in the period under review, largely due to a loss from Sephaku Cement of US$1.37m.
Sephaku Holdings' latest results include little revenue from the cement business, as one of the plants began producing only in January 2014 and the other is due to begin production in July 2014. The South African cement market is currently oversupplied and is likely to remain that way for some time, but Sephaku and another newcomer, Mamba Cement, are banking on healthy demand growth and cost-efficiency advantages from their modern plants. Mamba has a plant under construction near Northam in Limpopo.
South Africa: Zambezi Portland Cement Limited has released a new cement product, Timange, which it said is suitable for the African climate.
"Zambezi Portland Cement Limited has announced another high quality cement, the Timange 32.5N Portland limestone cement," said sales and marketing manager, Isaac Ngoma. "This new product is a new generation 3-s formula product, a complete cement solution for the African climate as it requires less curing. This is a multi-purpose value addition cement with solid setting and rock strength. Timange cement has a super setting capacity with supreme sustainability."
"Good quality clinker is intermixed with limestone and gypsum while maintaining better particle size distribution to produce this low heat cement, which is ideal for road works, dams, plastering and other structural use," added Ngoma.