August 2025

Angola: Cimenfort plans to build a new cement plant at Cabinda. The site will have an area of 51 hectares and create 150 news jobs, according to the Mercado newspaper. The country has a total cement production capacity of 8Mt/yr.

Germany: Poor weather in the US and lower asset sales than expected reduced HeidelbergCement’s earnings in 2018. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 6.8% year-on-year Euro3.07bn in 2018 from Euro3.3bn in 2017. Its revenue rose by 4.7% to Euro18.1bn from Euro17.3bn. Cement sales volumes grew by 3.4% to 130Mt from 126Mt and ready-mix concrete volumes increased by 3.7% to 49Mm3 from 47.2Mm3.

“In operational terms, we were almost able to offset the impact of adverse weather conditions, particularly in the US, and the higher than expected cost inflation through growth in sales volumes and price increases,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board. He added that the company achieved record sales volumes and revenues in 2018. He also said that its action plan is producing its first results, with a reduction in debt to below Euro8.4bn due to portfolio ‘optimisation’ and spending discipline.

By region the group reported that construction activity in North America was hampered by a long winter in the north and heavy rainfall, particularly in the north and southwest of the US. A ‘strong’ level of construction was noted in the group’s Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia Group area leading to revenue increases. In Asia-Pacific its operating EBITDA fell by 4.4% due in part to high competition in Indonesia and infrastructure project delays in Thailand. Cement sales volumes growth was reported in most counties in Sub-Saharan Africa.

India: Ambuja Cement’s earnings fell in 2018 due to rising energy and fuel costs. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim says it has implemented efficiency and cost saving programs to mitigate these effects. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 6% year-on-year to US$265m in 2018 from US$266m in 2017. Despite this, the company’s sales volumes of cement grew by 5% to 24.2Mt from 23Mt. Its sales revenue rose by 7% to US1.54bn from US$1.44bn. Overall, the consolidated results for both Ambuja Cement and its fellow subsidiary ACC, saw growth in EBITDA, net sales and sales volumes of cement.

Colombia: Poor weather in the US reduced Cementos Argos’ sales revenue in 2018. Its sales revenue fell by 1.4% year-on-year to US$2.7bn in 2018 from US$2.74bn in 2017. Cement sales volumes decreased by 1.1% to 16Mt from 16.2Mt. The cement producer said that its cement volumes in the US were impacted by weather and a 43 day halt at its Martinsburg Plant in Texas, US. However, its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 8% to US$494m from US$457m. This was in part due to an improved Colombian construction market.

Saudi Arabia: Demand for cement is forecast to fall in 2019. A report by Al Rajhi Capital expects this due to reduced government spending on infrastructure projects and growing construction costs, according to Trade Arabia. Cement producers will focus on pricing rather than volume in this environment. Exports are also expected to increase. Local sales volumes of cement decreased by 13% year-on-year in 2018.

China: Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries has delivered two 220t/hr CK Mills to Jiande Conch Cement via Anhui Conch Kawasaki Energy Conservation Equipment Manufacturing (CKM), a joint venture between Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Anhui Conch. Kawasaki is handling design and operation-related technical guidance, whereas CKM is in charge of manufacturing and delivery. The mills have a table track diameter of 4900mm, 5100kW motors and four rollers. No value for the order has been disclosed.

Kenya: Firms interested in buying out troubled ARM Cement have until 28 February 2019 to make final offers to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the company’s administrator. PwC says 25 companies have so far expressed their interest in taking over ARM. 23 have signed non-disclosure agreements that allowed them to receive additional information about the cement manufacturer. By mid-December, PwC reported at total of 14 non-binding offers (NBOs).

“We reviewed these NBOs and shortlisted a number of parties whose offers best suited the objectives of the envisaged transaction to proceed to the next round of conducting their due diligence, with a view to submitting binding offers,” reported PwC.

While the administrators did not name the shortlisted companies, they are believed to include Nigeria’s Dangote Cement and Oman’s Raysut Cement, which went public with its US$101m buyout offer.

Chile: Cementos Melón ended 2018 with a 9% growth in profits to US$13.7m. Its net income rose by 4.5% to US$289m. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 2.9% to US$43.2m.

Nigeria: Ashaka Cement, a subsidiary of Lafarge Africa, is set to inaugurate a 16MW power plant project in a bid to improve the reliablilty of its energy supply. Managing Director Rabiu Abdullah Umar said that the company would invest US$30.5m in the project. “We are helping to remove ourselves from the (national) demand for energy and providing our own solution,” he said. “This means a minimum of 16MW of electricity will now become available to the public grid for the people in the region to enjoy.”

New Zealand: Fletcher Building is expecting to declare lower earnings in the half year to 31 December 2018 due to a regional slowdown, particularly in Australia. Its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the six month period was around 10% lower than the same period of the 2017-2018 financial year. It is expected to be in the range of US$432-467m.

In a report Fletcher Building said, “While the company continues to target a result at the top end of this range, it is prudent at this stage in the year to highlight that the 2019 financial year EBIT will be impacted by the outage at the Golden Bay Cement plant, the slowdown in the Australian residential market and the reduction in land development earnings compared to last year.”