India: Grasim Industries has reported a change to its shareholding arrangements. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India has concluded its sale of a 2% of stake in the company. LIC retains 9.8% of shares.

India: The 5th National Conclave on Mines and Minerals has granted its Five Star mine management award to two Ramco Cements limestone mines. These are the Melavenkateswarapuram mine and Pudupalayam and Periyangalur mine in Tamil Nadu. This is the fourth successive year that the company has won a Five Star award for its mining operations in the state.

India: Ramco Cements has commissioned a new waste heat recovery (WHR) unit on Line 3 of its Jayanthipuram cement plant in Andhra Pradesh. The company said that the system consists of two boilers and that the first on the line’s cooler has been started. A second boiler situated at the line’s preheater will be commissioned in June 2022. The new installation increases the Jayanthipuram plant’s WHR capacity by 31% to 21MW.

UK: Breedon Group has told investors that its consolidated sales in the first ten months of 2021 were Euro1.24bn, up by 31% compared to their levels in the corresponding period of 2020. The group said that its ‘layered hedging policy’ mitigated key commodity cost pressures during the period. As such, it raised its 2021 full-year underlying earnings before interest, depreciation and taxation (EBIT) forecast to more than Euro145m.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has announced the launch of its ECOPlanet slag cement. It says the product has a 30% lower carbon footprint than other general purposes products. The company will sell 40kg bags of cement in both paper and plastic bags.

Holcim Philippines president and chief executive officer Horia Adrian said, “Winning with purpose requires delivering our customer promise while also caring for the planet.” He added, “We see a growing interest in building greener structures in the Philippines. ECOPlanet enables us to provide our partners with the best balance of delivering strength and durability while helping make construction more respectful of the environment. It is another key step in our promise to build greener, smarter and for all in the Philippines.”

Indonesia: Thailand-based Siam Cement Group (SCG) has completed its acquisition of a 13% stake in building materials retailer Caturkarda Depo Bangunan (CKDB). SCG made the purchase through a joint venture its runs with Siam Global House. The cement producer said that the acquisition was intended to support its strategic expansion in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region and that it might increase its stake at a later date. CKDB is headquartered in Surabaya, East Java.

Switzerland: Holcim has launched the DYNAMax range of high-performance concretes. The producer says that the range offers higher compressive strength, rigidity and durability than its other concrete products. In 2022, it plans to begin marketing DYNAMax in ten markets in its Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America regions.

Chief executive officer Jan Jenisch said “I’m excited by the launch of our DYNAMax high-performance concrete, advancing our global range of innovative and sustainable building solutions. With today’s population and urbanisation trends, DYNAMax is an ideal material to build smarter cities. It offers high performance to build more with less with no compromise on aesthetics and functionality.”

Indonesia: China-based China National Building Material (CNBM) International Engineering has commissioned a 2.1Mt/yr cement plant at Grobogan, Semarang, in Central Java for GITI Group. The 6000t/day project was ignited and started production in mid-November 2021. Work on the US$350m project originally started in late 2017. GITI Group is a conglomerate based in Singapore principally known for tire manufacture.

South Africa: PPC’s revenue grew by 20% year-on-year to US$324m in the first half of its financial year to 30 September 2021 from US$269m in the same period in 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 13% to US$59.6m from US$52.9m. The group reported that cement sales volumes rose by 12 – 15% in South Africa and Botswana due to strong retail demand. It also described new procurement measures supporting locally produced cement for government-funded project as “an essential first step in ensuring the economic sustainability of the South African cement industry.” It noted cement sales volumes growth of 19% in Zimbabwe despite local economic problems, but earnings declined due to additional costs incurred in importing clinker and an unplanned kiln shutdown. In Rwanda the group noted flat sales volumes and falling earnings due to a coronavirus-related lockdown.

France/US: Vicat Group has signed a Euro250m financing agreement taking the form of a private placement with US investors. The first tranche of the agreement covers Euro100m, with a maturity of 10 years, at a fixed rate of 1.27%. The second tranche is for Euro150m, with a maturity of 15 years, at a fixed rate of 1.57%. The group says it will use the funding to strengthen the liquidity of its balance sheet, extend the overall maturity of its debt and reduce its average debt ratio.