20 August 2020

Ireland: CRH recorded a profit of US$406m in the first half of 2020, down from US$602m in the first half of 2019. Sales fell by 4.9% year-on-year to US$12.2bn from US$12.8bn. Price rises in many markets offset the general reduction in cement volumes caused by coronavirus lockdown, while volumes grew in Germany, the Benelux countries, Brazil and the US.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Albert Manifold said, “We took swift and comprehensive action in response to the Covid-19 crisis, and our ability to flex our cost base and deliver improved profitability, margins and cash generation in a rapidly evolving environment demonstrates the strength and resilience of our business. The outlook for the rest of the year and into 2021 remains uncertain and is dependent on an improving health situation across our markets.” Though the group provided no full-year guidance for 2020, it said, “The longer-term prospects for CRH remain positive, benefiting from significant financial strength and resilience together with a portfolio of high-quality assets in attractive markets.”

Uruguay: Cement producers sold 166,000t of cement in the second quarter of 2020, down by 3.9% year-on-year from 173,000t in the second quarter of 2019. The country exported 5600t of this (3%), up by 3.9% from 5380t. Domestic sales fell by 4.1% to 160,000t from 153,000t, corresponding to 84% of a domestic consumption of 190,000t, down by 4.2% from 200,000t. Imports rose by 8.8% to 30,000t from 27,400t.

Russia: The Ministry of Finance of Sverdlovsk Oblast has named Buzzi Unicem subsidiary SLK Cement amongst the winners of Best Taxpayer of the Year 2019, an award that recognises commercial contributions to the regional economy by taxpaying in order to “raise the profile of companies and increase their role in the socio-economic development of the territory.” SLK Cement paid US$23.0m in taxes in 2019, up by 2.4% year-on-year from US$22.5m in 2019.

General director Andrey Immoreev said, “Honesty and compliance with the law are one of the key values of the Buzzi Unicem business code, in accordance with which we work. In our activities, we strictly follow the legal norms in the field of labour protection, industrial, fire, sanitary and epidemiological, environmental safety, taxes and Gosudarstvenii Standart (GOST) and international cement quality standard regulations, as well as retaining a customer focus in the company. In addition, despite the external factors associated with the coronavirus pandemic, we confidently continue to implement investment projects to modernise production equipment and provide assistance to the territories in which we are present.”

Mozambique: China-based International Cement Group has confined builders working on the construction of its integrated Salamanga cement plant in Maputo Province to the site of the upcoming plant since March 2020. BBC news has reported that 60 Mozambicans have been living in temporary accommodation without being able to leave the site “in order to prevent possible transmission of coronavirus from workers,” according to the company. The group agreed to permit workers to leave from 23 August 2020 following action by a local lawyer.