Saudi Arabia: City Cement’s net profit after Zakat and tax grew by 19% year-on-year to US$29.6m in 2018 from US$24.9m in 2017. It attributed the result to operational efficiency and a settlement it reached in late 2018 with China’s Sinoma International about the construction of a second production line. The cement producer’s sales fell by 36% to US$92m from US$143m due to low demand for cement and local competition.

Saudi Arabia: Arabian Cement’s net sales fell by 34% year-on-year to US$160m in 2018 from US$241m in 2017. Its profit decreased by 89% to US$10.1m from US$93.2m. It blamed the fall in sales and profit on poor demand, increased competition, decreasing sales volumes and lowering prices.

Algeria: Aïn El-Kebira Cement Company has won the Algerian Quality Award for 2018. The government-issued award includes a prize of around Euro15,000, a trophy and a diploma of honour. The 1Mt/yr integrated cement plant is part of GICA Group, according to the El Moudjahid newspaper. The unit plans to start producing oil well cement in 2019. GICA Group exported 0.2Mt/yr of cement in 2018 and it plans to increase this to 0.8Mt/yr in 2019.

Germany: Bischof + Klein will present a new product from its PowFlex product range at the Powtech trade fair in April 2019. The film and packaging developer will showcase its B+K PowFlex vs powder packaging product for the first time. This converted alternative to paper valve sacks supplements the B+K PowFlex product range for powder packaging. It is intended for the construction industry but other applications in the chemicals and foodstuff industries are also possible.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s sales revenue grew by 4.6% year-on-year to US$1.16bn in 2018 from US$1.11bn in 2017. Its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell slightly to US$188m. The group said that its cement sales volumes grew by 1.1% in 2018 due to ‘strong’ demand in Melbourne and Sydney from residential construction and infrastructure projects. Prices increased in most markets with the exception of South Australia, where it faced competition from bulk imports.

“Increased revenue in 2018 reflects Adelaide Brighton capitalising on the favourable demand environment for construction materials and lime as well as the delivery on expectations for the concrete and aggregates acquisitions made in 2017. “East coast construction markets were strong in 2018, South Australia and the Northern Territory were flat and Western Australia was down, while lime demand from the resources sector was stable,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Nick Miller.

Spain: Cementos Molins’ turnover fell by 8.9% year-on-year to Euro588m in 2018 from Euro646m. It blamed the falling sales on currency depreciation in Argentina and a decrease in sales in Mexico. Its net income decreased by 4.2% to Euro85.3m from Euro89.1m. Its cement sales volumes rose by 7.5% to 6.05Mt from 5.6Mt but its concrete sales volumes reduced by 4.5% to 1.5Mm³ from 1.58Mm³. Spain remained the group’s biggest sales territory and these rose by 11.1% to Euro260m.

El Salvador: The Board of Directors of the Superintendence of Competition (CDSC) has fined Holcim El Salvador US$82,000 for failing to provide data for an investigation. The CDSC started its investigation in mid-2018, according to Summa magazine. However, the subsidiary of LafargeHolcim has been accused of delaying submitting information to the competition data in the autumn of 2018.

Germany: Schmersal Group will be demonstrating its new HDS switchgear series for heavy industry at the Bauma construction machinery trade fair in April 2019. The basis of the new platform is a standardised enclosure concept, which is available in two versions: plastic and grey cast iron. Typical application areas for the product include emergency-stop deactivation, belt misalignment monitoring in the transport of bulk materials, end position monitoring in steel making and level monitoring in material silos.

“With the modular HDS switchgear platform, we’ve created a product that our customers can use flexibly over a wide range of applications. The HDS platform can also be used worldwide thanks to its international approvals,” said Udo Sekin, heavy industry sector manager at the Schmersal Group.

Ireland: CRH’s sales revenue rose by 6% year-on-year to Euro26.8bn in 2018 from Euro25.2bn in 2017. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 7% to Euro3.37bn from Euro3.15bn.

“2018 was another year of record profit delivery for CRH. We benefited from good demand and continued favourable market fundamentals in the Americas coupled with positive underlying momentum in Europe. Both were experienced against a backdrop of energy-related input cost inflation and significant weather disruption throughout the year but with a continued focus on performance improvement and operational delivery, margins were ahead of last year,” said group chief executive officer (CEO) Albert Manifold.

The group’s Europe Heavyside division, including European cement production, saw its sales grow by 10% to Euro7.61bn and EBITDA grew by 9% to Euro911m. Positive performances were noted in Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark and Poland. However, ‘challenging’ trading conditions were reported in the UK due to rising input costs and uncertainty about its departure from the European Union (EU). The Americas Materials division, which acquired Ash Grove Cement in mid-2018, saw its sales rise by 12% to Euro8.95bn and its EBITDA rise by 18% to Euro1.49bn.

Nigeria: Domestic sales growth drove Dangote Cement’s financial results in 2018. Its local cement sales volumes grew by 11.4% year-on-year to 14.2Mt in 2019 from 12.7Mt in 2018. Sales in the rest of Africa remained stable at 9.4Mt. Sales revenue grew by 11.9% to US$1.71bn in Nigeria and by 9.6% to US$784m in the rest of Africa. Overall revenue grew by 11.9% to US$2.49bn from US$2.23bn. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 12.1% to US$1.20bn from US$1.07bn.

“This is a record financial performance by Dangote Cement, driven by a strong increase in our home market, Nigeria, despite heavy rains and uncertainties about the election,” said Joe Makoju, group chief executive officer. He added that, although Pan-African volumes were unchanged in 2018, he was confident that the group would see an increase in 2019, driven by higher volumes in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Congo and Sierra Leone. Elsewhere in Africa the cement producer said that plant shutdowns in Tanzania due to delays to a gas turbine installation, civil unrest in Ethiopia and a reduction of imports from Nigeria to Ghana had reduced its sales.