India: India Ratings and Research has forecast a drop of cement demand of 10 – 15% in the 2021 financial year due to coronavirus lockdowns in some states and flooding in eastern and central regions in the second quarter, according to the Economic Times newspaper. The research report attributed this to oversupply of cement in eastern regions. It also added that companies with more rural markets were likely to benefit from a quicker recovery.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement is working on a three year CO₂ mineralisation research project from 2020 to 2022 with Yamaguchi University, Kyushu University and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO). The initiative plans to develop the technology to build a process that captures CO₂ exhaust from cement and power plants and then mineralises it with calcium-containing waste materials. It intends to use the process practically in 2030.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement has installed three BWZ bucket elevators and a Louise TKF drag chain conveyor supplied by the Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Aumund at its new power plant at Ofunato. The cement producer uses both biomass and coal at the plant.

Two elevators and the drag chain conveyor are used to transport palm kernel shells (PKS) and palm empty fruit bunches (EFB), which are used as alternative fuels in the power plant. Each has a capacity of up to 150t/hr. The conveying concept is designed so that the different materials are kept apart and enter the silo buffer tanks separately. The third bucket elevator is used for coal handling. It is a gravity discharge type BWZ-S elevator with a capacity of up to 35t/hr.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim says that net sales in each of its five regions ‘returned to prior-year levels by the end of June 2020’ following the easing of coronavirus-related lockdowns. Its net sales fell by 10.8% year-on-year to Euro9.95bn in the first half of 2020 on a like-for-like basis due to the ‘severe’ impact of the lockdowns on construction sites in several of its main operating countries. It also blamed negative currency effects for an additional fall in sales. Its recurring earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) dropped by 22% to Euro1.11bn. Its net debt decreased by 15.8% to Euro9.91bn from Euro11.8bn. Cement sales volumes fell by 13.1% to 87.2Mt, aggregates by 6% to 114Mt and ready-mix concrete (RMC) by 18.6% to 19.2Mm3.

Group chief executive officer Jan Jenisch said, “Our half-year results demonstrate the great resilience of our business. I’m encouraged by our team’s agility to weather the storm with the rapid execution of our ‘Health, Cost & Cash’ action plan, effectively driving cost savings ahead of expectations, improving net working capital and delivering record free cash flow.” He added, “The peak of the crisis is behind us. We expect a solid second half of the year based on June’s full recovery, the trend of our order book and upcoming government stimulus packages.”

By region the group noted the most severe coronavirus-related disruption in Asia-Pacific despite China delivering a full recovery and growing sales volumes by the end of the second quarter. In Europe lockdowns in the UK and France had a particular impact and it said that, “volumes suggest a V-shaped recovery in June 2020 for the majority of markets, except in the UK.” Significant impacts were noted in Ecuador, Colombia and El Salvador in Latin America. Sales volumes declined in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq and South Africa in the group’s Middle East Africa region but Nigeria delivered a ‘resilient’ performance. Finally, North America was the groups best performing region with slight dips in cement and aggregate sales volumes but a rise in RMX and rising recurring EBIT. This was attributed to, “fast and effective cost management in the US.”

Germany: HeidelbergCement’s revenue fell by 10% year-on-year to Euro8.25bn in the first half of 2020 from Euro9.21bn in the same period in 2019. Its result from current operations before depreciation and amortisation (RCOBD) decreased by 2% to Euro1.40bn from Euro1.44bn. Sales volumes of cement dropped by 8% to 56.3Mt, aggregates by 7% to 135Mt and ready-mixed concrete (RMX) by 11% to 21.7Mm³. Its net debt decreased by 1.4% to Euro8.99bn.

“In the second quarter, revenue dropped in many countries, in some cases by double-digit percentages. Nevertheless, we achieved a good result, which was almost at the previous year’s level. The successful implementation of our COPE action plan played a large part in this,” said Dominik von Achten, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement.

By region the group noted major falls in sales volumes, revenues and RCOBD in Western and Southern Europe and Asia-Pacific. Although it said that the construction industry in Germany had ‘hardly been affected by the corona crisis’ despite significant negative effects elsewhere in Europe.

Greece: Titan Group says that cost savings, lower prices for solid fuels and price ‘resilience’ all helped to grow its earnings in the first half of 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBTIDA) rose by 12% year-on-year to Euro137m from Euro122m in the same period in 2019. Its revenue remained stable at Euro786m in the first half of 2020. Cement sales volumes fell by 2% to 7.9Mt but ready-mix concrete increased by 1.3% to 2.64Mm³ and aggregates increased by 2.6% to 9.2Mt. Although coronavirus-related lockdowns were mostly blamed for falling cement sales volumes they were also affected lower exports from Greece and the lack of fly ash supply in the US. Its US and Eastern Mediterranean regions contributed the most to its performance, with strong starts to the year in Egypt and Turkey before as the pandemic mounted.

UK/Ireland: Breedon Group’s sales fell by a quarter in the first half of 2020 due to coronavirus-related lockdown measures. Its revenue fell by 25% to Euro371m in the first half of 2020 from Euro495m in the same period in 2019. Its underlying earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) dropped to Euro0.7m from Euro54.8m. Cement sales volumes deceased by 20% to 0.8Mt, aggregates by 20% to 8Mt and ready-mixed concrete (RMX) by 33% to 1Mm³. Its net debt fell by 26% to Euro281m.

“Following the encouraging performance of our businesses in the first 12 weeks of the year, the move into lockdown and immediate fall in demand in the latter part of March led us into a swift and managed shutdown of the majority of our operations, leaving open only those which were servicing critical needs,” said group chief executive officer (CEO) Pat Ward. He added, “The recovery in our markets now appears to be well underway, and we have seen continued improvement into July. The great majority of our sites are now open, including both our cement plants. While near-term uncertainty remains, there is significant pent-up demand to be satisfied in both housing and infrastructure.”

India: Calderys has completed its acquisition of Hysil’s calcium silicate insulation division. The deal was signed in January 2020 but delayed to July 2020 due to coronavirus-related lockdowns. Calcium silicate boards are used for thermal insulation in industries such as cement, metallurgy, oil refinery, petro-chemical and power plants. Calderys says it now the largest manufacturing capacity of calcium silicate boards in India and South East Asia. The purchase will enable it to expand its product portfolio and offer calcium silicate insulation products along with refractories solutions.

India: Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech Cement has recorded a net profit of US$122m in the three months to 30 June 2020, the first quarter of the 2021 fiscal year – down by 28% year-on-year from US$169m in the corresponding period of the 2020 fiscal year. Sales were US$975m, down by 33% from US$1.45bn.

The company said, “UltraTech has emerged stronger and well-prepared in the wake of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic. The total lockdown period from late-March 2020 to 1 May 2020 has been a huge challenge for all manufacturing industries. UltraTech has managed the crisis with a sharp focus on operational efficiencies. In the available 68 operating days during the quarter, the company kept a tight control on costs and cash flow and achieved an effective capacity utilisation of 60% across its network of 54 plants around the country.”

UltraTech said that it had already noted “better-than-expected pick-up in cement consumption in rural markets,” which it attributed to “measured steps towards economic recovery” by national and state governments.

Italy: Caltagirone Group subsidiary Cementir has recorded first-half revenues of Euro570m in the first half of 2020, down by 3.6% year-on-year from Euro591.9m in the first half of 2019. Net profit was Euro21.9m, down by 27% from Euro29.9m. The company sold 4.6Mt of cement, up by 6.3% from 4.3Mt, which it said was “mainly attributable to good performance in Turkey.”

Operating costs fell by 3.9% to Euro475m from Euro494m, which the company attributed to “cost containment measures implemented to deal with the impact of the pandemic.” The company said that, in spite of the contraction during lockdown periods in various markets, it was generally able to offset this with “a significant recovery in sales,” as in China, where increased infrastructure investments raised demand above pre-coronavirus outbreak levels following the return to cement production on 27 March 2020. The company reduced its debt by 30% to Euro281m from Euro399.

Cementir said, “With the current industrial perimeter, we expect to reach full-year consolidated revenues of approximately Euro1.2bn in 2020. Net financial debt is expected to be around Euro180m, including capital expenditure of around Euro60m. No substantial changes in the workforce are expected.”