Displaying items by tag: Lafarge
Lafarge sales down 4% to Euro4.24bn in the third quarter
06 November 2013France: Lafarge has reported that its sales fell by 4% year-on-year to Euro4.24bn for the third quarter of 2013 from Euro4.39bn for the same period in 2012. The France-based building materials multinational blamed the results on adverse exchange rates which had a negative impact of 7% on both sales and profit indicators such as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). Lafarge reported that its EBITDA fell by 6% year-on-year to Euro 1.01bn for the third quarter of 2013. Cement volumes remained stable at 36.7Mt.
By business region, cement sales volumes fell in North America, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America for both the third quarter and the year to date. Mixed results were reported in the Middle East and Africa where cement sales volumes have fallen overall so far in 2013 but rose in the third quarter. Asia saw cement volumes rise in both periods.
Lafarge expects that the cement sector will grow at 0 - 3% in 2013 compared to 2012 due to market recovery in the US, continuing growth in most emerging markets and 'stabilisation' in Europe. The company intends to reduce its net debt to below Euro10bn in 2013, and below Euro9bn in 2014.
Canada: Mantra Venture Group has completed the first phase of engineering for its 'Electro-Reduction of Carbon Dioxide' (ERC) pilot plant. BC Research (BCRI), the technology commercialisation arm of NORAM Engineering and Constructors, has delivered a comprehensive first phase report that details the estimated cost of the plant, which will capture waste carbon dioxide at the Lafarge cement plant in Richmond, British Colombia. The second phase of engineering, which will provide a 'ready-to-build' plant design, is set to begin soon.
So far this work has resulted in several process improvements, including the introduction of a product treatment stage that will deliver a highly concentrated liquid product. As this will be capable of reaching the levels at which the products are typically used in industry, Mantra expects to be able to sell product directly out of the pilot plant. Improved process control, instrumentation, and flow scheme will deliver a more robust demonstration and greatly facilitate the commercial scale-up of the process.
"This will be the very first plant to electrochemically reduce carbon dioxide in an industrial setting. I think people will be very excited when they see a valuable, salable liquid product coming out of the Lafarge flue gas stack," said Mantra's Chief Technology Officer Patrick Dodd.
Guillaume Roux appointed Country CEO of Lafarge in Nigeria
16 October 2013Nigeria: Lafarge has announced the appointment of Guillaume Roux as the Country Chief Executive Officer for Nigeria and Benin Republic effective from September 2013. He succeeds Jean-Christophe Barbant.
Roux, a joint French and US national, is a graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He joined the Lafarge Group in 1980 as an Internal Auditor.
After holding several key positions in the Finance Department in France and the United States, he was appointed as Vice President, Strategy and Marketing for North America in 1996 and later as Chief Executive of Lafarge operations in Turkey in 1999.
In 2002 he was given responsibility for Lafarge's cement operations in South-East Asia, a position he held until he joined the Executive Committee of Lafarge Group as Executive Vice President and Co President of the Cement Division, with the responsibility for the cement business in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2006.
Roux is a member of the Executive Committee for Lafarge Group and combines this role with his current responsibility for Lafarge's operations in Nigeria and Benin Republic. This is the first time a member of the Group Executive Committee will also be a Country CEO.
André Martin appointed as CEO of Lafarge Russia
09 October 2013Russia: André Martin has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge Russia effective from 16 September 2013. He had been the Senior VP, Industrial Customer Segment at Lafarge corporate head office in Paris since 2012. Martin replaces Alex de Valukhoff.
A graduate of French management school ESSEC, Martin joined Lafarge in 1995 as cement M&A in Central and Eastern Europe manager. Highlights in his career include becoming president of Lafarge-Agregate-Betoane in Romania in 1999 and joining Lafarge-Beton de Paris as President in 2002. In 2005 André Martin moved to North America as VP Marketing Aggregates and Asphalt & Paving at Lafarge and he became President at Lafarge East US Aggregates & Asphalt in 2008.
UK Competition Commission planning to create new cement producer
08 October 2013UK: The UK Competition Commission (CC) has provisionally decided that Lafarge Tarmac should sell a cement plant to increase competition in the UK cement market. The CC is also proposing to limit the flow of information and data between cement producers and to increase competition in the supply chain for ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS).
"The best way to disturb the balance of a market where producers have focused on retaining their respective market shares rather than competing is to create the opportunity for a major new entrant," said CC Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the Inquiry Group Professor Martin Cave.
In detail the CC has provisionally decided that Lafarge Tarmac should be required to choose between divesting either its Cauldon or Tunstead cement plant. The purchaser of the divested cement plant should be able to acquire a limited number of ready mixed concrete plants from Lafarge Tarmac subject to the purchaser's total internal cementitious requirement being capped at 15% of the acquired cement production capacity. The buyer would have to be approved by the CC and not be one of UK's existing cement producers.
Data currently published by the Minerals Products Association (MPA) and the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills should be delayed by no less than three months from the time period to which it refers before it can be made public. UK cement producers will also be prohibited (with a small number of specific exceptions) from providing their sales and production data to any other private sector organisation.
UK cement suppliers will be prohibited from sending generic price announcement letters to their customers. Instead, they should send letters that are specific and relevant to the customers receiving them.
Subject to further consultation on the GGBS supply chain, Hanson should divest two of its GGBS production facilities and Lafarge Tarmac should divest two of its granulated furnace slag production facilities, again to a suitable purchaser approved by the CC but not to another UK cement producer.
Responses to the CC's suggested measures will now be gathered before it publishes its final report by 17 January 2014.
Lafarge appoints new chief executive in Russia
24 September 2013Russia: France's Lafarge, the world's largest cement producer, has announced that it has appointed André Martin to the position of chief executive in its Russian division. He replaces Alex de Valukhoff.
"To come to Russia and serve as the CEO of Lafarge Russia is an honour I find humbling and motivating," said Martin to the Moscow Times. "Together with the team of professionals we are committed to contributing to the building of better cities."
Martin joined Lafarge in 1995, initially working in cement mergers and acquisitions before rising to the post of president of Lafarge-Agregate-Betoane in Romania in 1999. He has also worked for Lafarge in North America. Most recently Martin was the senior vice president for Lafarge's industrial customer segment in Paris.
PCA stands by brighter US cement future
18 September 2013US cement consumption may have disappointed some in the first quarter of 2013 but solid growth lies ahead, according to the Portland Cement Association (PCA). Just how solid that growth will be remains open to interpretation.
PCA chief economist Ed Sullivan forecast 8% growth in cement consumption at the start of 2013. Now's its been halved to just 4%. Yet he's standing by the hint of good news ahead, upping the growth from 2014 to 9.7%.
Figures from the major US cement producers present a mixed picture. The major multinational cement producers mostly suffered from the weather in early 2013. Lafarge saw its cement sales in North America drop by 23% year-on-year for the first half of 2013 to 4.4Mt from 5.7Mt in the same period of 2012. Cemex's cement sales in the US rose by 3% but no specific figures were released. Holcim's cement sales in North America fell by 7% to 5Mt from 5.4Mt. HeidelbergCement's cement sales in the North America grew by 5% to 5.7Mt from 5.4Mt.
Of the rest, Texas Industries reported a rise in cement shipments of 29% to 2.23Mt from 1.73Mt for the six months to the 31 May 2013. Titan saw sales in the US rise by 10% to US$258m.
Preliminary United States Geological Survey data for June 2013 suggests that the increase in portland and blended cement shipments in the US slowed in the first half of 2013. In 2011 32.1Mt were shipped, in 2012 37.0Mt were shipped and in 2013 37.2Mt were shipped.
Meanwhile the construction figures US Department of Commerce mostly suggested growth but not without the odd jitter. Construction spending fell slightly in June 2013. Total construction spending adjusted seasonally fell by 0.4% to US$869bn due to a fall in non-residential construction. Since then though the July 2013 figure hit US$901bn, the highest since June 2009.
Accordingly, in his forecast Sullivan pins his hopes on the residential sector in the near term. It has seen consistent growth since October 2012. However other industry commentators, like the American Institue of Architects, have focused on poor growth in non-residential construction.
Let's hope Sullivan's got it right.
Lafarge Pakistan and Saif Holdings sign refuse derived fuel deal
16 September 2013Pakistan: Lafarge Pakistan and Saif Holdings have signed an agreement to manufacture refuse derived fuel (RDF). The agreement was signed between Pavel Cech, Lafarge's regional vice president of industrial ecology, and Hoor Yousafzai, director of Saif Group.
Lafarge sells Honduras cement plant to Cementos Argos
03 September 2013Honduras: Lafarge has sold its cement operations in Honduras to Cementos Argos for Euro232m. Sold assets include a 1Mt/yr cement plant and a 0.3Mt/yr grinding plant. The sale is subject to regulatory approval.
The transaction had a total enterprise value of Euro435m based on a 2012 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) multiple of 8.6. Lafarge owns 53.3% of its Honduran subsidiary, Lafarge Cementos SA de CV.
Lafarge profit hit in second quarter
26 July 2013France: The French multinational cement producer Lafarge has reported that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell year-on-year in the second quarter of 2013. Despite this Lafarge said that its EBITDA was 'steady' considering the adverse weather conditions, absence of carbon dioxide sales and the negative impacts of foreign exchange variations seen during the quarter.
EBITDA for the second quarter of 2013 was recorded as Euro922m, 8% down on the second quarter of 2012 when it was Euro1002m. Operating income was also down from Euro750m in the second quarter of 2012 to Euro667m in the second quarter of 2013. However, Lafarge's net income for the quarter was Euro201m, significantly up on the same period of 2012 due to exceptional items during the year-ago quarter relating to Greek assets. It reported that it generated a total of Euro260m in the first half of 2013, which Lafarge described as 'on track' with its plan.
The group sold a total of 36.5Mt of cement in the second quarter compared to 38.4Mt in the second quarter of 2012. It sold 65.2Mt/yr of cement in the first half of 2013 against 69.7Mt sold in the first half of 2012.
Lafarge's net debt at the end of June 2013 was down by Euro0.7bn compared to at the end of June 2012, reflecting the strict control of investments and working capital optimisation. With the recently announced divestment of its US gypsum operations, the group has secured Euro1.5bn since the beginning of 2012. Euro0.9bn more will come in the second half of 2013.
Bruno Lafont, Chairman and Chief Executive of Lafarge, said, "Our results in the second quarter resisted in an environment that was marked by a conjunction of unfavourable circumstances. We increased prices and performance and innovation results are in line with our 2013 Euro650m additional EBITDA target. Taking into account first-half volumes, we foresee a cement demand growth in our markets of 0-3% in 2013, which implies more positive trends in the second half."
Lafarge's sales volumes across all business lines were down in the second quarter of 2013. It suggested that this was in part due to a better-than-expected 2012 performance and poorer weather in 2013, especially in North America. A temporary fuel shortage in Egypt also put some pressure on cement volumes in that country.
Across all business units Lafarge's EBITDA in North America was Euro141m in the second quarter of 2013, down by 17% (8% on a like-for-like basis) compared to Euro170m in the same period of 2013. EBITDA for this region was flat year-on-year despite the loss of assets in the US cement industry. This represents a like-for-like improvement of 17%.
In Western Europe, Lafarge's EBITDA was Euro145m, down by 16% (14% like-for-like) compared to Euro173m in the second quarter of 2012. In the first half overall its EBITDA plummeted by 45% (38% like-for-like) from Euro255m in 2012 to Euro150m in 2013.
In Central and Eastern Europe, EBITDA was also down in the second quarter, from Euro101m in 2012 to Euro80m in 2013. This was a 21% fall in both absolute and like-for-like terms. In the first half of 2013 its performance was similarly poor, with a 48% drop in EBITDA from Euro87m in the first half of 2012 to Euro45m in the first half of 2013.
The Middle East and Africa saw an 8% decline in EBITA in absolute terms (1% like-for-like) from Euro329m in the second quarter of 2012 to Euro304m in the second quarter of 2013. Over the first half of 2013 its EBITDA for this region fell by 15% in absolute terms (10% like-for-like) from Euro646m in 2012 to Euro550m in 2013.
Latin America, however, saw a 1% improvement (7% like-for-like) in EBITA year-on-year from Euro70m in the second half of 2012 to Euro71m in the second quarter of 2013. In the first half its EBITDA for this region fell by 5% year-on-year (up 1% like-for-like) from Euro129m in 2012 to Euro122m in 2013.
Finally, Lafarge's best performing region was Asia, where it recorded EBITDA improvement of 14% year-on-year (16% like-for-like) in the second quarter to Euro181m from Euro159m. In the first half, absolute improvement in EBITDA was also 14% higher (17% like-for-like) at Euro306m compared to Euro268m in 2012.
Looking towards the future, Lafarge expects cement growth in its markets of 0-3% in 2013 compared to 2012, factoring in low volumes in the first-half. Emerging markets continue to be the main driver of demand and Lafarge says that it will benefit from its 'well-balanced geographic spread of high-quality assets.'
The group also expects higher pricing in 2013 and that cost inflation will continue, although at a lower rate than in 2012. This, it says, will benefit from positive trends in coal and petcoke prices. The group targets to deliver additional EBITDA of Euro650m in the year through its performance and innovation measures.