Displaying items by tag: Cemex
Digital trends in cement
24 June 2020Many people have been adapting to home working over the last few months due to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdowns. The digital tools have been present for years but current events were all that was needed to force everyone to try it out en masse, moving much of the back office, supporting and managerial functions to the homes of staff. Some of this communal clerical working may never come back in the views of some commentators. Other functions related to networking, such as sales or knowledge transfer, have moved to different channels like webinars and social networking or have resorted to older methods like using the telephone more. The balance between real world and remote networking may change but a return to some level in favour of the former seems likely.
The core processes of cement manufacture are resistant to this trend as workers need to be on site to mine limestone and maintain production lines. Although, that said, Global Cement Magazine has covered examples of remote commissioning and maintenance of equipment at plants in recent issues. Prior to this there has been steady work on remote monitoring of equipment and plants by both suppliers and producers and moves by cement companies to focus on digital operation such as LafargeHolcim’s ‘Plants of Tomorrow’ Industry 4.0 from 2019 or Cemex’s work on autonomous cement plant operations with Petuum.
Some ways in which cement companies have coped with social distancing recently have been revealed as they have published their best practice guides. Last week, for example, Holcim Philippines was promoting its various online customer interaction tools including its existing sales platform and a new online customer engagement program to ‘provide updates on the company’s directions, share knowledge and best practices on Health and Safety and to bond with business partners while quarantines are in place.’ Other companies have done similar things like the Cemex Go platform. On the supplier side there have been various announcements as companies have pushed their digital offerings. Meanwhile, the companies offering automation or remote operation products have been handed a unique stage to promote their wares.
Another example of cement companies trying something new in digital is the pilot that was announced this week by Siam Cement Group with the Bank of Thailand to test out payment systems using a central bank digital currency (CBDC). This likely has very little to do with the cement industry and much more to do with the sheer size of that conglomerate in Thailand. As the second largest company in the country, it’s an obvious target to try out something new like this at scale. The project will run from July 2020 until the end of the year. It will build on work that the central bank has carried out on Project Inthanon, a project between the bank and the eight financial institutions to study and develop a method for domestic wholesale funds transfer using wholesale CBDC. Any benefits using a CBDC eventually bring to Siam Cement Group and other producers in the country are likely to be limited to finance departments but savings are always welcome wherever they arise.
One cautionary note to consider though is that introducing changes to national currency systems can have impacts upon cement companies through general effects to the economy as a whole. The classic example of this in recent years is that of banknote demonetisation in India in late 2016. Cement production growth declined for about half a year at the time due to the disruption it caused.
The downside of this increased reliance on digital products and platforms is increased exposure to cybercrime. There was a rare good-news story in this area recently when Schmersal Group revealed that it had intercepted a network attack in progress in May 2020. It promptly took its IT network offline and disconnected its various systems, from the telephones, to its business software, to its production processes and automated storage systems, at all of its locations. Systems were then gradually cleansed and restored over the next two weeks. Schmersal’s response is commendable but chillingly it ended its press release by saying that, “the attack demonstrated that standard protection from antivirus programs and a firewall is powerless in the event of a targeted attack with previously unknown malware.” Companies had the same vulnerabilities before the pandemic but the increased reliance on digital platforms has heightened the potential risk. As we mentioned last time we covered this topic companies that admit to large scale malware attacks are hard to find most likely because it looks bad. Although since that article was published, Buzzi Unicem admitted that a ransonware attack on its information systems originating from its Ukrainian operations were delaying its financial disclosures in mid-2017.
In the longer term it will be interesting to see how much of the altered working patterns or methods created by the coronavirus lockdowns remain afterwards. The current situation isn’t quite like the ‘disruptive innovation’ business theory pedalled by Clayton M Christensen that has led in-part to established companies setting up start-up incubators to try and spot the next big new thing. Yet, existing trends are being sped up and this may lead to some surprises that were coming down the road anyway. For example, buying someone shares in video networking tool Zoom would have made a nice Christmas present this year! Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Cemex UK lobbies for sustainable development
16 June 2020UK: Cemex has joined the Aldersgate Group alliance of companies in calling on the UK government to support an economic recovery, “aligned with the UK’s climate and environmental goal.” In a policy briefing, the Aldersgate Group said that a low-carbon recovery plan should: address regional inequality and unemployment; strengthen the UK’s economic competitiveness and productivity through investment in the sectors and technologies of the future; deliver critical public goods including clean air, better health and improved resilience to future environmental shocks; build a more resilient financial system fit to withstand future climate shocks ;deliver the Global Britain agenda by strengthening the UK government’s influence ahead of the G7 and COP26 summits that it will be hosting in 2021; and enable UK businesses to be competitive providers of low carbon goods and services.
Cemex Europe director of public affairs Martin Casey said, “Our aim is to enable the development of climate-smart urban projects, sustainable buildings and climate-resilient infrastructures. Setting a clear policy direction for restarting the economy will enable to play its part in the recovery in a way that advances our climate and environmental goals.”
Trinidad Cement celebrates one year injury free
03 June 2020Trinidad & Tobago: Trinidad Cement has said that it is celebrating 365 days without a loss time injury (LTI). The company said, “Our strict safety protocols implemented throughout our operations are paying off… by saving lives.”
Mexico: Cemex has said that new rules proposed by the Secretariat of Energy affecting subsidies for renewable power users will ‘adversely impact business.’ Noticias Financieras News has reported that as of 1 January 2020 Cemex had contracted for the supply of 918MW of renewable energy, 802MW (87%) of it in Mexico.
World: Cemex has said that it is part of a group of companies jointly launching Restarting Together - an initiative aimed a reinvigorating the economy in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. It says that the initiative aims, “to find innovative projects that seek to expedite the return to normality after the confinement period.” It added, “This initiative also looks to identify projects to boost economic recovery in a sustainable way, aimed specially at improving employment, revitalising the ecosystem of small businesses, and creating networks and financial aid mechanisms for crisis situations.”
Restarting Together is welcoming innovative project proposals from the public until 30 June 2020. The criteria on which proposals will be assessed are their ‘social and economic impact, feasibility, rapid implementation time, and degree of sustainability and innovation.’
Cemex makes changes to management team
27 May 2020Mexico: Cemex has made changes to its management team with immediate effect.
Jose Antonio Gonzalez, the Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration, has been appointed as Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development.
Maher Al-Haffar, the Executive Vice President of Investor Relations, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, has been appointed Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration. The group added that Investor Relations will now be integrated to its Finance department.
Mauricio Doehner, the Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Enterprise Risk Management, has been appointed Executive Vice President of Corporate Communications, Public Affairs and Enterprise Risk Management.
Juan Romero, the Executive Vice President of Sustainability, Commercial and Operations Development, will oversee Digital Marketing, in addition to his current responsibilities.
Luis Hernandez, current Executive Vice President of Digital and Organizational Development, will oversee Cemex Ventures, in addition to his current responsibilities.
Juan Pablo San Agustin, the Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development, will leave Cemex. No date for his departure has been released.
Cemex amends main bank agreement
27 May 2020Mexico: Cemex has announced the amendment of its facilities agreement with several financial institutions to alter its consolidated leverage and coverage covenants. Under the new terms, the leverage covenant will increase to 6.75x for June 2020 and to 7.00x for September 2020 through to March 2021 and decrease thereafter.
Cemex chief financial officer (CFO) Maher Al-Haffar said, “We are very pleased with the completion of this process and with the support of our lenders. We are proud of our track record in working together with our bank group in both good and challenging time.”
Cemex said that as part of the amendment it has agreed to ‘temporarily limit certain flexibilities related to capital expenditure.’
US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has announced the winners of its Chairman’s Safety Performance Award for outstanding safety performance in Portland cement production in the US.
The winners were: Cemex USA’s Clinchfield, Georgia and Victorville, California plants; Lehigh Hanson’s Cupertino, California and Tehachapi, California plants; Titan America’s Medley, Florida and Troutville, Virginia plants; LafargeHolcim’s Morgan, Utah and Theodore, Alabama plants; Buzzi Unicem’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant; GCC of America’s Pueblo, Colorado plant; and Argos USA’s Atlanta, Georgia grinding plant.
PCA chair Tom Beck said, “We’re proud to highlight these top safety performers. Our industry is constantly focused on doing everything possible to assure our employees go home in the same condition as they arrived.”
Czech Republic: Cemex Czech Republic has reported the delivery of Multibat PLUS cement to ten intermediaries across East Bohemia from its Prachovice, Pardubice plant. Cemex Czech Republic says that the demand for Multibat arose following the discontinuation of the product in late 2019.
Many of the first quarter financial results are in from the multinational cement producers and a few points are worth discussing. As usual a few caveats are worth mentioning such as seasonal and geographical variations between companies, such as producers in the northern hemisphere experiencing a generally slower period. It’s also worth noting that this is a selective look at some of the larger cement producers as not all of them release detailed figures at this stage and others have been delayed. However, the economic effects of the coronavirus lockdowns are clearly showing an effect in a kind of wave as the pandemic has spread.
Graph 1: Sales revenues in the first quarter of 2020 from selected cement producers. Source: Company financial reports.
Graph 1 above shows the effects of the earlier lockdown in China upon the results of the Chinese producers like CNBM, Anhui Conch and China Resources Cement (CRC). What’s interesting with these companies is that they have all suffered revenue hits of 20 – 25%. Huaxin Cement, a producer based in Hubei province near Wuhan where the Chinese lockdown was strictest, is not shown in Graph 1 but its revenue fell by 35% in the first quarter. See GCW452 for more on coronavirus effects on the Chinese cement industry.
Looking more widely, both LafargeHolcim and HeidelbergCement suffered declines of around 10%. This is somewhat misleading as both companies are constantly selling assets making the like-for-like results not quite as bad, particularly in the case of LafargeHolcim with its South-East Asian divestments. Although note this week that LafargeHolcim’s deal to sell its majority stake in Holcim Philippines lapsed this week due to the local competition regulator not granting permission in time. Yet, they are also beneficiaries and victims to an extent of their wide geographical spread with worse performance in Asia and better results in North America. For a fuller look at LafargeHolcim’s first quarter results see last week’s column. The rest of the producers featured generally reflect their tighter market spread with Buzzi Unicem particularly benefiting from the relatively untouched market in the US. Shree Cement, an Indian producer, escaped relatively unscathed, possibly as the Indian lockdown only started in late March 2020. All eyes will be on the results of UltraTech Cement, the largest producer in India, when they finally emerge.
Graph 2: Cement sales volumes in the first quarter of 2020 from selected cement producers. Source: Company financial reports.
Cement sales volumes tell a similar story, although a few different companies are featured in Graph 2. Note CRC’s year-on-year fall of 26% to 11.2Mt in the first quarter. It’s the only larger Chinese cement producer that we’ve found so far that has released sales volumes. Semen Indonesia is interesting too because its figures jumped in January 2020 as its acquisition of Holcim Indonesia only went on the books in February 2019. It’s February and March sales volumes have each been 4 - 5% down year-on-year but it’s far from clear whether this is due to general production overcapacity in the country or from the global health crisis. Despite this, its export volumes from both the mainland and its TLCC subsidiary in Vietnam have held up well. Unfortunately though, its performance in Vietnam may be an outlier if data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs is to be believed this week. It indicated that overall cement exports from the country fell by 9.7% year-on-year to 7.73Mt in the first quarter of 2020. Cementos Argos is also worth looking at as it suffered from the government lockdown in Colombia despite having an international presence in the Caribbean and the US.
Most of the world’s largest cement producers are preparing for the economic shockwaves from lockdowns to hit balance sheets in the second quarter of 2020. Many have said exactly this and have paraded their liquidity levels in preparation. Alongside this the results of the Chinese producers in the next quarter may offer some light on what kind of recovery is possible from easing lockdown measures. Yet the risk of second waves of infections from coronavirus potentially jeopardises any kind of fast or easy recovery without a vaccine. Today’s news that Cemex is considering mothballing its integrated plant at South Ferriby in the UK has been blamed on an analysis of the company’s European cement supply chain. The company says it is not related to coronoavirus but it does suggest the company is making savings.
This week has seen international press coverage return to Wuhan, China and South Korea where small numbers of infections have started to build despite being thought mostly eradicated. No one wants the so-called ‘W’ economic recovery with its rollercoaster ride of crests and dips or indeed the ‘L’ with its slow tail of recovery. Yet, for better or for worse, some form of normality has to return after the lockdowns end. The UK, for example, the country with the worst death rate from coronanvirus in Europe, has allowed its construction workers to pick up tools this week. If and when they can do so in the UK and everywhere else without causing the basic reproduction number (R0) to rise then the future starts to look a little brighter.