Displaying items by tag: Italcementi
Italcementi revenue fall slows in third quarter of 2013
13 November 2013Italy: Italcementi's revenue has dropped by 3.2% year-on-year to Euro1.06bn for the third quarter of 2013 from Euro1.10bn in the same period in 2012. However, earnings before income and taxes (EBIT) fell by 36% year-on-year to Euro108m for the third quarter of 2013 from Euro168m in 2012. The Italy-based multinational cement producer attributed the low revenue decline as a sign of slowing decline in Europe.
"Despite the stagnation in demand on the European markets, over the last four quarters, with the exception of March 2013, which was severely affected by the impact of bad weather on construction operations, the Italcementi Group has reported a positive trend in results for its industrial operations," said Giovanni Ferrario, Group Chief Operating Officer. He added that the group efficiency plan had helped the result despite the strong impact of the rise in energy prices in Egypt.
Sales of cement and clinker fell by 2.4% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2013 to 10.8Mt. By region sales fell in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East in the third quarter of 2013. Cement and clinker sales rose in North America and Asia. This trend was mirrored for the first nine months of 2013 also.
Italcementi expects weaker growth in Thailand for 2014
30 September 2013Thailand: Asia Cement, the Thai subsidiary of Italcementi Group, has projected slower growth in revenue in 2014 due to a likely weaker domestic market and uncertainty over the government's US$64bn infrastructure investment.
Co-managing director of Asia Cement, Nopadol Ramyarupa, said that Thailand's fourth-largest cement maker expects revenue growth of only 4% in 2014, according to the Bangkok Post. The company's revenue for 2013 is predicted to rise by 17.6% year-on-year to US$319m from US$271m in 2012.
"The economic slowdown and revised gross domestic product figures have affected our projection," said Nopadol, adding that growth in the overall cement industry is heavily tied to the country's economy and to the construction sector in particular. Co-managing director Roberto Callieri added that he hoped that the Thai government's US$64bn infrastructure investment would stimulate the construction sector sufficiently to meet Asia Cement's 'optimistic' growth projection of 4% over five years. Asia Cement has not been affected by labour shortages in the country or by an increase in the daily minimum wage to around US$9.50/day.
Asia Cement has a 14% share of Thailand's 33Mt/yr cement market. The company is operating at 80% of its combined annual capacity of 7.3Mt/yr its cement plants in Saraburi, Nakhon Sawan and Phetchaburi provinces.
Italcementi markets products by performances under i.nova brand
25 September 2013Italy: Italcementi's Carlo Pesenti (CEO) and Giovanni Ferrario (COO) launched i.nova, Italcementi's new product offer system, on 19 September 2013. The entire product portfolio developed by the group, focused on the concept of differentiating products by performance, is now available on the market.
The group says that the customer is the hub of the i.nova system, which differs from the traditional commodity-based approach to cement supply. Its system is designed to simplify the purchasing process by organising products by structural codes.
Through i.nova it will be easier for customers to distinguish and select, for instance, the acoustic products that are grouped under the i.sound family, or the thermal products grouped under the i.clime family or again, the special products for water, grouped under the i.idro family. In addition, a distinct colour and graphic marking have been given to each performance 'family' so as to make visual recognition of the product quicker and easier in all the countries where the group operates.
"i.nova revolutionises Italcementi's marketing strategy and approach to sales, reconfirming the group's highly innovative positioning," explained Carlo Pesenti. "Despite operating in what is referred to as a traditional sector, the company places research, innovation and sustainability at the forefront of its industrial strategy, convinced that such values represent a fundamental lever for consolidating its competitive advantage in the building industry. In fact, i.nova is the evolution of the last 15 years of research, during which many unique innovative products have been developed, such as the photocatalytic cement and the transparent cement used for the Italian Pavilion in Shanghai."
Belgian Competition Council fines cement sector
04 September 2013Belgium: The Belgian Competition Council has fined three cement producers and two related organisations Euro14.7m for restricting competition in the Belgian cement market. In a statement, the Belgian Competition Council accused HeidelbergCement subsidiary CBR, Italcementi subsidiary CCB, Holcim Belgium, FEBELCEM and the national centre for technical and scientific research for the cement industry (CRIC/OCCN) of concerted behaviour.
According to the council, the accused parties acted in a coordinated manner between May 2000 and October 2003 to delay the adoption of a licence and of standards allowing ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) to be used as a component for ready-mix concrete. The cement producers and FEBELCEM sought to protect their own interests in selling cement for ready-mix concrete and CRIC/OCCN aided them in doing this.
The council noted that Irish GGBS producer Orcem had its import of GGBS to Belgium delayed due to the anticompetitive practices.
Suez Cement profit soars by 46% to US$56m despite market uncertainty in first half of 2013
14 August 2013Egypt: Suez Cement Company has reported that its consolidated revenue rose by 7% year-on-year to US$368m in the first half of 2013 from US$343m in the same period in 2012. Despite continued energy-supply uncertainties and increased energy prices, the Italcementi subsidiary managed to increase its profits by controlling and improve costs and improving manufacturing efficiency.
Suez Cement's recurring earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 15% year-on-year to US$93.3m from US$81.3m. Net profit rose by 46% to US$55.7m form US$38.0m.
For the second quarter of 2013 Suez Cement's revenue rose by 11% to US$186m from US$168m. EBITDA rose by 18% to US$45.1m from US$38.3m. Net profit rose by 19% to US$20.2m from US$24.0m.
In its outlook, Suez Cement issued caution over ongoing market uncertainty in the second half of 2013. If the country stabilises politically the cement producer expects cement demand to improve as public and private construction spending resumes. Given growing supply shortages for energy, Suez Cement will continue to focus on industrial and environmental efficiency and postpone any capacity expansion projects.
Italy: Italcementi has reported that its revenue fell by 6.2% to Euro2.16bn for the first half of 2013 from Euro2.30bn in the same period in 2012. The Italian-based cement producer commented that, despite the decrease in sales volumes, its revenue reduction was smaller (3.6%) in the second quarter of 2013.
"Our programme to contain fixed costs together with close control of variable costs enabled us to lower our breakeven point, slightly ahead of our targets, despite continuing difficulties in market conditions, especially in Italy," said Italcementi group chief operating officer Giovanni Ferrario.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 10.6% to Euro299m from Euro334m. The group posted a loss for the period of Euro43.3m compared with a profit of Euro1.3m in the first half of 2012, when gains of Euro8.6m were reported on the sale of its subsidiaries Afyon and Fuping. Net debt for the period was broadly unchanged for the period at Euro2bn.
Overall cement sales fell by 7.1% to 21.8Mt. By region, cement sales fell by 12.4% to 7.2Mt in Central Western Europe and by 11.7% to 6.9Mt in Emerging Europe, North Africa and Middle East. Cement sales rose by 1% to 2Mt in North America and by 5.3% in Asia. In the cement business, for the second quarter the group reported a significant reduction in the decline in Europe and Morocco, positive performance in North America and stability in sales in Asia. Sales volumes in Egypt were affected by difficulties in fuel procurement. A particular poor performance in Italy was singled out.
In its outlook, Italcementi speculated that its results in the second half of 2013 should be in line with the second half of 2012 due to market improvements in selected countries and the impact of cost cutting exercises, particularly in Italy and Spain. However, it warned that full-year profitability would be hit by the poor first quarter of 2013.
Egypt: The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company has signed a contract with Italgen, a subsidiary of global cement producer Italcementi Group, to produce electricity from wind energy. The contract authorises Italgen, which has been studying the possibility of incorporating wind technology since 2008, to become the first private investor to enter the Egyptian National Grid and construct a wind energy park in the area of Gulf El-Zeit, according to a statement.
Electrical energy generated from the wind park will be transmitted to plants run by Suez Cement, another Italcementi subsidiary, and will help in the reduction of CO2 emissions. The first phase in the project will represent an investment of around Euro120-130m. It will equate an installed capacity of 120MW and is expected to cover around 40% of Suez Cement's power needs. After the completion of the second phase, electrical energy is estimated to reach a capacity of 400MW.
European Q1 cement round-up
08 May 2013Once again the winter weather was bad in Europe. Once again the major European cement producers reported a fall in sales. So what has changed between the first quarters of 2012 and 2013?
Lafarge's cement sales volumes in Western Europe for the first quarter of 2013 fell by 24% year-on-year, compared to an 11% drop in 2012. Holcim's decline in volumes stabilised, compared to a 13.2% drop in 2012. HeidelbergCement's volume decline increased slightly, from a drop of 8% in 2012 to one of 10% in 2013. Cemex didn't release sales volumes figures for cement but overall net sales in its Northern Europe region fell by 13% in 2013 compared to 11% in 2012. Italcementi's cement sales volumes maintained a steady decline in both the first quarters of 2012 and 2013 at about 19%.
Even with the reduced number of working days for the quarter in 2013 taken into account, things are not looking good. Generally the results fit the prediction made by the UK Mineral Products Association (in the UK at least) that construction activity remains subdued in 2013 so far.
Profitability measures for the European divisions of the big producers, such as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), reinforce the gloomy outlook, suggesting that most of the cost cutting exercises aren't having much effect on investor balance sheets quite yet. Lafarge's EBITDA in Western Europe fell by 94% to Euro5m. HeidelbergCement's loss before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased to Euro91m. Cemex's operating EBITDA fell from US$55m in 2012 to a loss of US$17m in 2013. Italcementi's EBITDA decreased to Euro12.8m.
Only Holcim reversed this trend, growing its EBITDA by 43% to Euro23.5m. The Holcim Leadership Journey appears to be working. Although the sale of a 25% stake in Cement Australia certainly helped.
Elsewhere, we have an additional story at add to last week's focus on Iraq, with the announcement that Mondi has opened an industrial bags plant in Iraq. It's based in Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq near to the new Sinoma-Lafarge project that we reported on.
Finally, the news that the Competition Commission of India has been asked to investigate a complaint against a Chinese waste heat recovery vendor raises tensions between the world's largest two cement producers. The story echoes similar trends in the gypsum wallboard business in April 2013 where a selective anti-dumping duty was imposed on imports from China, Indonesia, Thailand and the UAE. Watch this space.
Italcementi loss grows in Q1
08 May 2013Italy: Italcementi's loss for the first quarter of 2013 has grown to Euro58.5m from Euro34.4m in the same period in 2012. The Italian cement producer singled out poor weather in March 2013 and the absence of income from CO2 emission rights as contributing factors.
Group revenue fell by 9.3% to Euro0.96bn in the first quarter of 2013 from Euro1.03bn in the same period in 2012. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 36.8% to Euro88.7m from Euro140m.
Revenue for the group's cement and clinker sector fell by 9.5% to Euro627m from Euro693m. Total cement and clinker sales volumes fell by 9.6% to 10Mt. By region, in central Western Europe sales volumes fell by 18.6% to 3Mt. In North America sales volumes fell by 3.9% to 0.7Mt. In the group's 'Emerging Europe, North Africa and Middle East' region sales volumes fell by 14.6% to 3.3Mt. In Asia sales volumes rose by 11.2% to 2.7Mt. Particular drops in revenue were noted in Italy (22.3%) and Spain (28.9%).
In its quarterly report Italcementi described how the group is coping with the fall in cement consumption in Italy from 46.5Mt in 2006 to 25.5Mt in 2012 with its 'Project 2015' programme that was announced in December 2012. During 2013 a number of continuous-cycle plants will continue to operate only as grinding centres. The group also placed the value of lost CO2 emission rights income - principally from Italy, France and Bulgaria – at Euro18m in 2012.
In its outlook Italcementi believes that its full-year recurring EBITDA will be substantially stable compared with 2012. The healthy trends on the Asian and North American markets together with the benefits arising from the on-going efficiency measures should counterbalance the effects of the reduction in demand expected on the European markets.
Italcementi shareholders elect new board
24 April 2013Italy: At their annual general meeting held in Bergamo, the shareholders of Italcementi SpA elected the Board of Directors for the next three years, until approval of the financial statements for 2015.
The members of the new Board are Pierfranco Barabani, Giorgio Bonomi, Fritz Burkard, Victoire de Margerie Federico Falck, Lorenzo Renato Guerini, Italo Lucchini, Emma Marcegaglia, Sebastiano Mazzoleni, Jean Paul Méric Carlo Pesenti, Giampiero Pesenti, Carlo Secchi, Elena Zambon (all elected from the majority list presented by Italmobiliare SpA) and Giulio Antonello (a candidate from the minority list presented by First Eagle Global Fund).