Displaying items by tag: CRH
CRH slips into the red in first half of 2013
20 August 2013Ireland: Irish cement conglomerate Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH), has released its results for the first half of 2013, which show that it made a loss of Euro7.1m before tax for the six month period. This compares to a Euro102m pre-tax profit in the first half of 2012. Its operating profit came in at Euro41m, down from a restated Euro162m operating profit in the first half of 2012.
Commenting on the results, CRH's Chief Executive Myles Lee said, "Although recent economic indicators suggest that the Eurozone may be emerging from recession, overall construction activity remains weak and we expect challenging trading conditions in Europe for the remainder of 2013. In the United States, economic growth is estimated to have strengthened over recent quarters and we expect second half EBITDA to be ahead of last year."
"Overall for CRH, we expect EBITDA for the second half of the year to be in line with 2012 (Euro1.04bn)," continued Lee. "The group continues to focus on cost management, operational excellence, value-adding acquisitions and strong cash generation and is well-positioned to progress as markets recover."
CRH's sales revenue was down by 3% (by 6% on a like-for-like basis). This was made up of 7% year-on-year fall in the four months to April 2013, moderating to a 3% decline in May and June 2013.
CRH's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and impairment charges (EBITDA) amounted to Euro400m. Its first half acquisitions/investments came to Euro470m and it made Euro202m from asset disposals.
CRH's My Home Industries to buy Sree Jayajothi Cements
12 August 2013India/Ireland: Following earlier speculation, Ireland's Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH) has announced that its 50:50 Joint Venture in India, My Home Industries Ltd has reached an agreement to acquire the shares of Sree Jayajothi Cements, a 3.2Mt/yr cement producer in south India for a value of Euro175m.
Dow Jones reports that the investment will be financed from My Home Industries' existing debt capacity and by equity inputs from the joint shareholders (Euro70m). CRH's equity interest will amount to Euro35m.
Ireland: Irish cement conglomerate Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH) has announced that Albert Manifold will become group chief executive on 1 January 2014 following the retirement of current chief executive Myles Lee after 32 years with the group.
Manifold, a board member and CRH's CEO since January 2009, has held a variety of senior positions within the company, including managing director of the Europe Materials Division and group development director. Prior to joining CRH in 1998, he was CEO with a private equity group.
Commenting on the appointment, CRH's chairman, Nicky Hartery, said, "I am delighted to announce Albert's appointment as the next chief executive of CRH. This follows a comprehensive selection process led by the Board's Succession Committee."
"Albert will succeed Myles in the New Year, facilitating an orderly transition at chief executive level," continued Hartery. "Albert brings to his new role a deep knowledge of the industry and proven international executive experience."
CRH considers Sree JayaJothi purchase
24 July 2013India: Irish building materials supplier CRH is considering acquiring Sree JayaJothi cements, part of Shriram Group, according to the Economic Times of India. CRH may purchase Sree JayaJothi cements through its joint-venture with MyHome Industries. The value of the deal is around US$250m.
Sree JayaJothi cements has a cement plant at Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, with a clinker production capacity of 2Mt/yr and a cement production capacity of 3.2Mt/yr. Currently CRH has a cement production capacity of 3.2Mt/yr in India through a joint-venture.
In response to queries, Shriram confirmed to the Bombay Stock Exchange that it is discussion with potential investors including CRH.
Irish tonic – news from CRH
10 July 2013Following on from last week's analysis column (Global Cement Weekly #107: Gimmie Water - water conservation in the cement industry) Irish cement producer CRH has released its 2012 Sustainability Report.
Unfortunately, no comparable figures for water usage per cement production were published and CRH noted usage measurement as a group objective. Its best estimate was that the group used 36Mm3 of water in 2012, with 12% of that figure (4.4Mm3) used in cement production.
Otherwise plenty of good news filled the report with improvements shown for most of the key indicators. Notably chief executive office Myles Lee pointed out that CRH had substantially increased alternative fuel usage in its European cement operations in 2012 and that this helped with rising energy costs.
Sticking with CRH, the Irish cement producer recently released information on its development strategy for the first half of 2013.
Despite - or perhaps because – of decreasing profits in 2012, CRH's development spend has nearly doubled year-on-year to Euro470m from Euro250m. The increase is mainly due to the asset swap with Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV), which was announced in February 2013. CRH agreed to transfer a 26% stake in Corporacion Uniland to CPV. In return, CPV agreed to transfer its 99% stake in Cementos Lemona to CRH, as well as giving CRH its UK-based cement importer Southern Cement.
In its press release CPV specifically mentioned that the asset swap would reduce its exposure to the Spanish cement market. On CRH's side the inclusion into the deal of a UK cement importer may be incidental but having an additional destination for potential excess Spanish cement production capacity can only be prudent.
Elsewhere this week, Turkmenistan's decision to protect domestic cement production with a 100% import duty raises interesting implications for exporters in the region such as Iran. It is unclear whether Turkmenistan is blocking Iranian exports altogether or just taxing them more. Either way, following news of a Iraqi block on Iranian exports, it seems likely to dent Iran's ambition to reach 18Mt of exports in the 2013 – 2014 Iranian calendar year, which will end on 20 March 2014.
CRH releases 2012 sustainability report
10 July 2013Ireland: Irish building materials supplier CRH has shown continued improvements in most of its cement sustainability initiative key performance indicators in its 2012 sustainability report.
Of note, CRH improved its net CO2 emissions per tonne of cementitious product by 5% to 637kg/t. Fuel substitution rose to 20.8% from 17.3%. The Lost Time Incident (LTI) rate per million man-hours for direct employees fell from 2.54 to 1.49. Particulates per specific g/t of clinker fell to 108 from 328.
However, CRH's emission for SOx per specific g/t of clinker rose to 304 from 204. CRH blamed this rise on an increased use of alternative fuels in some plants.
In his forward to the report chief executive office Myles Lee commented that CRH's Materials Division had substantially increased alternative fuel usage in its European cement operations in 2012 that softened cost inflation in energy-related inputs.
Donald McGovern Jr to join board of CRH
26 June 2013Ireland: Donald A McGovern, Jr will join the board of CRH as a non-executive director effective from 1 July 2013.
McGovern, a US national aged 62 years, is currently Vice Chairman for Global Assurance at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a position he has held since July 2008. McGovern will retire from PwC on 30 June 2013, following a 39 year career with the firm, during which time he directed the US firm's services for a number of large public company clients. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and holds a Master's Degree in Business.
Lafarge to sell Ukraine plant to CRH
26 April 2013Ukraine: France's Lafarge has announced the sale of its cement activities in Ukraine to Ireland's CRH for an enterprise value of Euro96m. The deal comprises one wet process cement plant located in the Lviv region, in the western part of the country. The Global Cement Directory 2013 lists the plant's capacity as 1.7Mt/yr.
The transaction, which is expected to close before the end of 2013, is subject to the relevant Ukrainian authorities' approval. Lafarge retains a presence in Ukraine through three aggregates quarries serving the Ukrainian, Russian and Polish markets.
Ukraine cement producers report losses in 2012
24 April 2013Ukraine: Volyn Cement has reported a loss of Euro2.86m for 2012. It recorded a net profit of Euro1.75m in 2011. The company based in Zdolbuniv, Rivne region, saw its net revenue remain stable at Euro62.8m. Multinational cement producer Dyckerhoff owns 98.4% of the shares in Volyn Cement.
Podilskiy Cement has reported a loss of Euro9.6m for 2012. The Khmelnytskyi region-based cement producer saw net revenue rise by 31.2% to Euro92.8m in 2012. Podilskiy Cement's plant has six kilns with a production capacity of 3.7Mt/yr. The business is controlled Ireland's Cement Roadstone Holdings.
Despite Europe - European cement production in 2012 continued
27 February 2013With the annual results for 2012 in from Lafarge, Holcim and CRH we now return to look at how the European markets coped.
Holcim summed up the mood perfectly in its media release on its annual results for 2012. First it pushed the big positive (net sales up overall) but then finished its first (!) sentence with: '...despite the difficult economic environment in Europe.'
Overall in Europe, Lafarge saw its cement volumes fall by 9% to 29.6Mt from 32.5Mt. Notably sales volumes fell significantly in Spain and Greece, by 26% and 37% respectively.
Holcim saw its cement volumes fall by 2% in Europe to 26.3Mt from 26.8Mt. There were specific country figures from Holcim but it did comment that the 'severe crisis' in southern Europe had 'contaminated' economies further north such as a France, Benelux, Germany and Switzerland.
CRH was less candid about its cement business in Europe although it did report that its sales revenues fell by 10% to Euro2.69bn in 2012 from Euro2.99bn in 2011. Notable losses occurred in Poland (11% volume decline), Ireland (17% decline) and Spain (30% decline).
These figures compare against a 4% decline in volumes in Western and Northern Europe to 22.1Mt from 21.3Mt by HeidelbergCement, a 13% drop in overall net sales to Euro3.05bn in Cemex's Northern Europe section and a 16% drop in volumes to 16Mt from Italcementi in its Central Western Europe region.
The question to ask at this point is how HeidelbergCement and Holcim managed to suffer smaller losses compared to everybody else. Less exposure to southern Europe is one answer. Depressingly though they both suffered similar drops in profit indicators such as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) to the others (20% and 33% respectively).
Both Holcim and CRH are expecting continued tough conditions in Europe in 2013. However, both companies are mildly optimistic that the worst has passed, with talk of the work of the European Central Bank supporting peripheral Eurozone economies showing some effect. Lafarge doesn't even mention Europe in its outlook.
As mentioned in Global Cement Weekly #87 on 13 February 2013, EU regional GDP growth is forecast to become positive in 2013. Everybody is going to be watching the European quarterly results for the cement majors in 2013 very carefully indeed. In the meantime all every cement producer with a presence in Europe can do is to carry on cutting costs.