19 November 2019

Brazil: Markets in Brazil and North America have supported Votorantim Cimentos’ sales so far in 2019, despite setbacks in Turkey and Latin America. Its sales revenue rose by 2% year-on-year to US$907m in the first nine months of 2019 from US$891m in the same period in 2018. Overall sales volumes of cement fell slightly to 8.4Mt. The cement producer’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 5% to US$188m from US$199m, with declines reported in all operation regions except North America.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement’s profit has risen so far in 2019 due to stable cement prices and falling coal prices. Its net profit increased by 11.1% year-on-year to US$214m in the first nine months of 2019, according to the Taipei Times newspaper. However, its sales revenue fell by 3.5% to US$2.87bn. The cement producer says it has a production capacity of 102Mt/yr following the formation of a joint venture in Turkey and an acquisition in Portugal in 2018.

The company reported higher labour, transportation and raw material costs in China in the third quarter of 2019. Its expenses were also inflated by environmental upgrades. Company president John Li said, that despite falling prices in Guizhou province, demand in regional markets, including Guangdong, Guangxi and Jiangsu provinces was expected to remain beneficial.

US: Cemex is looking to sell its majority stake in the Kosmos Cement plant at Louisville in Kentucky. Sources quoted by the El Financiero newspaper said that the integrated plant could be valued as high as US$750m. Cemex is working with Bank of America and Citigroup on the potential sale. Buzzi Unicem, through its subsidiary Dyckerhoff, owns the remaining stake in the plant. Cemex’s decision to try and sell the plant follows falling sales and profits for the Mexican building materials producer so far in 2019.

Philippines: The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) is considering voluntary commitments submitted by First Stronghold Cement and related parties in connection to its proposed acquisition of Holcim Philippines. First Stronghold Cement, an indirect subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation, has agreed to buy an 85.7% stake in Holcim Philippines, according to the Philippine Star newspaper. Companies undertaking acquisitions can make behavioural or structural voluntary commitments during the process to alleviate competition concerns with the PCC. Behavioural commitments include market constraints imposed by the PCC whilst structural commitments cover divesting assets.

Initial findings by the PCC on the proposed purchase found it could affect the market concentration of relevant products in parts of Luzon, and Northern and Southern Mindanao. This would normally prompt a stage two review of the proposed acquisition. However, if the PCC accepts the suggested voluntary commitments it would bypass this step.

India: HeidelbergCement India is targeting expansion options to increase its production capacity to 20Mt/yr from 12.5Mt/yr. Managing director Jamshed Cooper said that the company is looking at companies in the range of 5 – 10Mt/yr in order to avoid the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) process, according to the Indo-Asian News Service. The cement producer is also planning to build a 22MW waste heat recovery unit at its Zuari plant in Yerraguntla, Andhra Pradesh at a cost of US$28m. Debottlenecking initiatives are also being conducted at a cost of US$7m to increase overall production capacity by 0.5Mt/yr when completed in 2021.

The group operates two subsidiaries locally: HeidelbergCement India and Zuari Cement. HeidelbergCement India serves the central markets and Zuari Cement, a former Italcementi subsidiary, focuses on the south of the country.

Egypt: Arabian Cement’s sales revenue fell by 5% year-on-year to US$139m in the first nine months of 2019 from US$147m in the same period in 2018. Local sales dropped whilst export sales and services rose. Its profit for the period after tax decreased to US$2m from US$13.3m.

Nigeria: UK-based Entec International has secured a contract to optimise maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) supply chains for Lafarge Africa. The project will involve the consolidation of 125 separate suppliers into a single supply chain, which will be managed by Entec, operating in a single currency with standardised terms. No value for the deal has been disclosed.

“This is a great step for Entec, this contract opens up a new market with huge potential for us. We are delighted to be working with LafargeHolcim, whose commitment to innovation and environmental sustainability reflects our ethos at Entec,” said Entec sales director Charlie Patterson.

Patterson expects Entec to achieve a 12% reduction in freight, clearance and handling costs for Lafarge Africa in year one of the three to five-year contract. Supply chain consolidation is predicted to cut the number of shipments by more than half and will deliver a reduction in the volume of purchase orders and invoices currencies into a single currency, replacing multiple payment terms from different suppliers into a single payment term and converting multiple air freight shipments from Europe and China into consolidated ocean freight.

Entec specialises in saving costs and reducing complexity for client companies by managing their MRO supply chains. It has managed complex supply chains for manufacturers in over 70 different shipping destinations. Entec’s client base includes customers in the food and beverage packaging industries, oil, gas production, textile processing and mining and minerals sectors.

US: Heliogen, a new technology venture, says it has concentrated solar energy to exceed temperatures greater than 1000°C at its commercial plant in Lancaster, California. The company hopes to use the process to replace fossil fuels used in industrial cement, steel and petrochemical production processes. It is using computer vision software to align a large array of mirrors to reflect sunlight to a single target.

The company is based in Pasadena, California and is lead by Bill Gross, the founder of Idealab, a US technology startup incubator. Heliogen is supported by Parsons Corporation, a company that operates in defence, intelligence and critical infrastructure markets. Other backers include Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft.