Zimbabwe: South Africa’s PPC says that its business in Zimbabwe has remained resilient despite the economic ‘challenges’ experienced over the last year. It said that it had kept its pricing in line with inflation and that demand remained ‘strong.’ Its cautionary measures in the country include: keeping 90% of input costs locally sourced; increased exports; continuing clinker imports from South Africa; and share purchases of PPC on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Previously, PPC reported that growth had been low in Zimbabwe in 2018.

Egypt: Lafarge Egypt has been named as the sole cement supplier for base construction work by China State Construction Engineering (CSCE) for the Central Business District in the New Administrative Capital. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim will supply its cement based on a framework of the long-term partnership between Lafarge Egypt and CSCEC to erect several high-rise buildings, including a tower that is set to be the tallest in Africa. It will use its Hydrocem Plus cement product for the project. Lafarge Egypt will also take part in the concrete pouring for the foundations.

"We are proud to hold such a long-term cooperation with CSCE for the construction of such a historical project and we value their trust in our products’ quality, which magnifies our capabilities in providing tailored and unique products and solutions to meet our customers' needs. Additionally our capability as a company helped us supply large quantities of cement in a short time which helped complete the pouring in 40 consecutive hours only," said Hussein Mansi, Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge Egypt.

Lafarge Egypt is also engaged in a number of projects in the New Administrative Capital project, including different types of concrete products and steel fibres.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim made a return to a net profit in 2018 as its ongoing cost-cutting program began to take effect. It reported a net profit of Euro1.32bn. Sales rose to Euro24.2bn from Euro23.78bn. In the fourth quarter of 2018 LafargeHolcim said that its recurring earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (REBITDA) edged up to Euro1.47bn from Euro1.43bn.

The company confirmed its outlook from November 2018, in which it said it expected sales growth within the 3-5% range on a like-for-like basis for 2019. It also expects to lift its REBITDA by at least 5%.

Chief Executive Jan Jenisch has been cutting costs and simplifying LafargeHolcim since he took over as CEO in 2017. He said the company's performance had improved during the second half of 2018, adding that he was expecting an acceleration of sales growth and earnings in 2019.

North Macedonia: Cementarnica Usje, part of the Greek Titan Cement group, reported that its non-consolidated net profit fell by 4% year-on-year in 2018 to Euro16.3m. Its total operating revenue edged up to Euro75m in 2018 from Euro74m in 2017. Domestic market sales rose by 3% to Euro47m, while sales abroad fell 3% to Euro24m.

Philippines: Eagle Cement's net income reached US$88m in 2018, a 13% increase from US$82m in 2017. It credited strong sales, despite some macroeconomic headwinds. The company’s net sales rose by 11% to US$320m from US$290m. In the fourth quarter alone, net income surged by 39%.

"While we are faced with challenges in the industry, we remain steadfast to expand the company to meet the increasing local demand for cement, driven by the thriving property sector and growth in consumption, as well as the anticipated roll out of the government's infrastructure projects," said Eagle Cement’s President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Ang.

UK: Breedon Group’s revenue grew by 32% year-on-year to Euro1bn in 2018 from Euro759m. Its profit rose by 13% to Euro75.2 from Euro66.3m. It sold 2Mt of cement and its ready-mixed concrete sales fell slightly to 3.2Mm³.

“We can be justifiably proud of our results. We outperformed the Great Britain market in sales volumes of all our key products, grew our revenues and underlying earning before interest and tax (EBIT), and once again generated strong cashflow, enabling us to pay down a material proportion of our post-Lagan debt by the year-end,” said executive chairman Peter Tom.

The building materials manufacturer said that the integration of Lagan Cement into the group enabled it to export cement from Kinnegad in Ireland to the UK. In early 2019 it intends to import cement from Kinnegad to a new terminal in Runcorn. Investments in the reporting year included an expansion of its transport fleet in the UK, a new mobile plant at its Hope quarry and the next stage of a four-year project to replace plant control systems at the Hope cement plant. Its single largest investment in 2019 will be the replacement of the raw mill drive at the Hope plant.

Breedon Group operates two cement plants, around 80 quarries, 40 asphalt plants, around 170 ready-mixed concrete and mortar plants, nine concrete and clay products plants, four contract surfacing businesses, six terminals and two slate production facilities. It employs nearly 3000 people and has nearly 900Mt of mineral reserves and resources.

Spain: Oficemen the Spanish cement association has blamed falling cement exports in 2018 on rising electricity and CO₂ emissions prices. The association said the European Union CO₂ price tripled to Euro24.60/t at the end of 2018 from Euro7.80/t at the start of the year, with an average price of Euro16.00/t of cement. Exports fell by 12% year-on-year to 8.1Mt in the 11 months of the end of November 2018. Cement consumption grew by 8% year-on-year to 13.4Mt in 2018. It forecasts growth of 3 – 6% in 2019.

France: Eric Olsen, the former human resources chief of Lafarge says that charges of financing a terrorist organisation by have been dropped against him. French prosecutors have been investigating Lafarge’s conduct in Syria, according to the Agence France Presse. In late 2017 Olsen and two other former executives were charged with ‘financing a terrorist organisation’ and ‘endangering the lives of others’. The second charge still stands against Olsen although he is reportedly challenging it.

The investigation is attempting to determine whether LafargeHolcim’s predecessor company Lafarge Syria paid terrorist groups in Syria during its civil war and how much managers knew about the situation.

Oman: Raysut Cement’s sales revenue rose by 27% year-on-year to US$236m in 2018 from US$187m in 2017. However, its operating profit fell by 85% to US$7.02m from US$17.5m. It blamed this on lower prices due to imports from the UAE, higher packaging costs, higher shipping costs and other general costs. Its cement sales volumes increased by 13% to 3.33Mt from 2.94Mt. The cement producer noted that excess production capacity in the UAE reduced prices in that country as well as in northern Oman.

Nigeria: Aliko Dangote, the president of Dangote Cement, says that his company is targeting exports of US$600m/yr to sub-Saharan Africa. He made the comments at the Dangote Cement Distributors’ Award Night in Lagos, according to the Nigerian Guardian newspaper. He added that Dangote Cement will become the largest exporter of cement in the region in 2019. It plans to focus on African countries with limited limestone reserves. The company is building new terminals at Onne and in Lagos. He also expressed hope that congestion at the Port of Apapa would be cleared soon to help the company meet its export targets.