07 August 2025

US: Amrize has reported financial results for the second quarter of 2025, noting its successful spin-off and listing of Amrize on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and ‘resilient’ results.

Amrize reported sales of US$3.22bn, down from US$3.24bn in the second quarter of 2024. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell to US$947m from US$1bn previously. Net income dropped to US$428m from US$473m.

Building materials sales fell to US$2.25bn from US$2.27bn. Cement volumes fell by 6%. Amrize said it was a “resilient performance in a challenging environment with inclement weather in the quarter.” It said that public sector spending had resulted in steady infrastructure demand during the quarter.

The company will add 0.66Mt/yr of cement capacity and improve manufacturing efficiency by the end of 2025 at the company’s flagship cement plant in Missouri and increase capacity by 0.3Mt/yr at the St. Constant cement plant in Quebec. It also broke ground on a new fly ash beneficiation plant in Virginia to enable the use of recycled ash as a supplementary cementitious material.

Jan Jenisch, chair and CEO, said "We successfully listed Amrize on the NYSE on 23 June 2025 and we now begin our growth journey as Amrize in a position of strength, ready to serve our customers as the partner of choice for the professional builders of North America. In the second quarter, we successfully navigated a challenging environment, generating stable revenue and strong margins showing the resilience and strength of our business and market positions."

Ireland: CRH reported second quarter 2025 sales of US$10.2bn, up by 6% from US$9.7bn in 2024, driven by acquisitions and commercial execution despite slowdowns due to inclement weather. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 9% year-on-year to US$2.5bn. Net income grew by 2% year-on-year to US$1.3bn.

CEO Jim Mintern said “Our strong second quarter performance was driven by favourable underlying demand, disciplined commercial management and further contributions from acquisitions. CRH's proven strategy continued to drive higher sales and profits, while our robust balance sheet and financial capacity enabled us to allocate approximately US$3bn to growth investments and capital returns year-to-date. We completed 19 acquisitions year-to-date and continue to see an active pipeline of opportunities to further strengthen our market-leading positions in attractive growth markets. Underlying demand in our key end-use markets remains positive and we are pleased to raise our guidance for 2025.”

Chile: cbb (formerly Cementos Bío Bío), has announced a binding agreement to sell all of its shares to Belgium-based producer Carmeuse, which will launch a tender offer for 100% of the shares of the company ‘no later than 13 August 2025’, according to Noticias Financieras. Shareholders representing 64.57% of the shares signed the Agreement to Tender, obliging them to transfer their holdings to Carmeuse subsidiary Carmel Holdings. The offer will value the company at US$505m, equivalent to US$1.91/share.

Carmeuse specialises in lime and limestone derivatives and operates 90 production sites worldwide. The acquisition aligns with its interest in cbb’s lime production through subsidiary Bío Bío Cales, which operates plants in Antofagasta and Copiapó.

The announcement of the sale comes after a race for control of the company at the end of 2024. In December 2024, Peru-based Yura acquired 0.81% of shares through a public offer, increasing its stake to 20.75%. Mississippi Lime Company also submitted a non-binding offer for the company for US$1.89/share in May 2024, but later withdrew.

Russia: Cemros will transition to a four-day work week across its plants from 1 October 2025 in response to declining cement consumption and rising imports. The producer said the part-time regime aims to preserve jobs and will retain the ‘full social package’, according to the local Construction Business News Agency. It will reverse the measure if the construction industry improves.

Cemros said the change is a “forced, but balanced measure aimed at long-term preservation of stability and social balance during a period of instability.” The producer previously suspended operations at its Belgorod cement plant due to lower profitability and increased imports.

Ivory Coast: Gebr. Pfeiffer will supply an MVR 3070 R-2 vertical roller mill to Ciments de Côte d'Ivoire (CIMCI) for clay grinding at its cement plant. The mill will produce 62t/hr of clay at ≤10% R 0.090mm for use in calcined clay cement. The order was placed by China-based contractor CBMI, which is managing the engineering, procurement and construction contract and will also supply the suspension calcination plant. The mill is scheduled to begin operation at the end of 2026.