11 September 2018

Ireland: An Euro22bn audit of CRH has been put out to tender, as mandatory rotation rules require it to replace incumbent EY. The move was announced in CRH's 2017 annual report, which said EY would have to be replaced by 2021 in order to comply with European Union (EU) rules designed to increase the independence of auditors.

Ireland has adopted a strict interpretation of the EU rules by requiring financial institutions and listed companies to replace auditors every 10 years. This contrasts with the UK's more liberal regime, which only requires audits to be put out to tender every 10 years, leaving companies free to reappoint their existing auditors. EY is based in the UK. It is possible that CRH may be seeking to reappoint a non-UK firm prior to the UK’s departure from the EU on 29 March 2019.

Pakistan/Afghanistan: Pakistan’s cement industry has urged the government to increase the customs duty on the import of clinker to support local manufacturers. It also wants a reduction in the cost of doing business in the country to encourage domestic sales. The industry stakeholders said that Pakistan has been losing ‘a major chunk’ of its market in Afghanistan to Iranian cement, due to its higher energy costs.

The costs of electricity and gas in Pakistan are reportedly the highest in the region, while additional duties on coal imports have nullified the lower cost of coal on the global markets. Locally, high government taxes have encouraged imports of under-invoiced Iranian cement imports, resulting in drop in domestic sales.

According to the latest data, domestic consumption has dropped by almost 14% over the past three years. The domestic cement dispatches in the first two months of the current fiscal year declined by 5.3% year-on-year. In the north, cement dispatches declined by 8.8% while in south zone they declined by 10.9%. In July 2018 the overall growth in the industry was 5.1%, while in August 2018 the overall decline was 8%.

The industry recommended that imports of cement should not be allowed until the importers register themselves with the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority to certify the quality of their cement.

India: UltraTech Cement has announced that it is joining EP100, a global leadership initiative that brings together a growing group of ‘energy-smart companies.’ The company said that becoming a member reaffirms UltraTech's commitment to driving sustainability across its value chain and accelerating business growth. By becoming a member of EP100, UltraTech has committed to double its energy productivity, a critical lever it to reduce the CO2 intensity of its operations. It will provide a strategic boost to UltraTech's low carbon growth target of reducing carbon intensity by 25% by 2021 against its 2005 baseline.

K K Maheshwari, Managing Director of UltraTech Cement said, “UltraTech Cement has always been at the forefront in adopting sustainable processes in its business operations. The company has some of the best performing plants on energy metrics across the world. As a responsible organisation, we realise the need for further substantial improvements in energy productivity. Our membership of EP100, we believe, will play a catalytic role in helping us accelerate towards doubling our energy productivity, which is a key strategic lever to achieve sustainable business growth.”

Helen Clarkson chief executive officer (CEO) of The Climate Group, said, ''It's hugely encouraging to see UltraTech, one of the leading cement producers globally, step up on energy efficiency. This is a win-win for emissions reduction and business growth. We need to see many more cement companies and other large energy users in hard-to-abate sectors follow UltraTech's lead.''

Founded by The Climate Group, EP100 constitutes companies that commit to using energy more productively. Energy productivity is a way of measuring energy efficiency that aligns directly with business growth and sustainable development goals.