Displaying items by tag: Adelaide Brighton

Australia: Adbri subsidiary Cockburn Cement has approved a US$152m upgrade to its Kwinana grinding plant in Western Australia. It says the investment will consolidate the cement operations at its Kwinana site. At present clinker is transported by truck from the Kwinana Bulk Terminal to cement mills at both the Kwinana grinding plant and the company’s integrated plant at Munster. It will increase its production capacity to 1.5Mt/yr from 1.1Mt/yr at present. The project is expected to save the company US$15m/yr due to better energy, transport and maintenance efficiency when the plant is commissioned by mid-2023. The producer will fund the investment through existing debt facilities.

The upgrade project includes: a bulk materials conveyor linking the Kwinana Bulk Terminal (KBT) facility to a new 110,000t clinker storage shed, incorporating an automated reclaim system, to eliminate road transport and minimise clinker handling using mobile equipment; a slag feed system that will handle granulated blast furnace slag and additives such as gypsum and limestone; a ball mill circuit with the installation of two new cement mills capable of grinding slag and clinker; and a new 21,000t finished product storage, truck loading and weighbridge infrastructure for storage and despatch.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton says that it has begun bagging its cement in water-resistant bags developed in partnership with packaging supplier Mondi, which supplied its Advantage Protect White water-resistant sack kraft paper product, and local bagging solutions provider Pope Packaging.

Adelaide Brighton is promoting the high tensile strength and water repellent surface of the bags, which it says can withstand rain for up to six hours and exposure to damp for 120 hours, earning them the nickname ’rain barriers.’ The company said, “After being actively involved in testing and developing the new product, Adelaide Brighton is the first business in the country to market the new innovative product. We are in the process of converting all of our cement and hydrated lime paper bags, manufactured in South Australia and the Northern Territory, across to rain barrier bags.”

Australia: Adelaide Brighton has secured a renewal of its contract with BHP for supply of cement and lime to its Olympic Dam, South Australia mine until 2026. The producer has said that the contract would generate US$116m in revenue for the group over the full six year term of the deal.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Nick Miller said, “We are pleased to extend our long-term relationship with BHP at its Olympic Dam project, which demonstrates the strength of our integrated cement and lime position, as well as our high quality and cost competitive product offering. We thank BHP for supporting a home-grown producer over an imported product, which protects local jobs and benefits the broader South Australian economy.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton has extended its lease over its Sellicks Hill quarry in South Australia until 2090. The Advertiser newspaper has reported that the signing of the lease, which secures the company’s local supply of limestone, “coincides with a rise in local cement consumption due to the government’s South Australia HomeBuilder building and renovation subsidy scheme,” according to the company. In August 2020 Adelaide Brighton signed supply contracts with BHP and OZ Minerals for infrastructure projects in the state.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton has recorded a net profit of US$21.1m in the first half of 2020, compared to a US$13.0m loss in the first half of 2019. Revenues fell by 7.3% to US$508m from US$548m due to a 12% construction decline over the period, according to the company. Residential construction fell by 16%, however mining and infrastructure activity remained consistent with levels in the first half of 2019. Adelaide Brighton said, “Cement demand is likely to continue to benefit from a strong production outlook for gold, nickel, and iron ore in particular, and stable demand from the alumina sector.”

Australia: Adelaide Brighton says its sites in Victoria can continue to operate during coronavirus-related lockdown measures that have been implemented until mid-September 2020. It said it would work with its customers, “to assess their requirements for construction materials and modify production levels in response to demand.” The company operates a jointly-owned cement grinding plant in Melbourne as well as concrete and aggregate units in the state.

Australia: US-based bauxite, alumina and aluminium producer Alcoa has said that it will not renew its US$48.5m/yr lime supply contract with Adelaide Brighton subsidiary Cockburn Cement following its expiry at the end of June 2020. Business News Western Australia has reported that the end of the 50-year contract puts between 40 and 50 jobs at risk at Cockburn Cement.

Adelaide Brighton chief executive officer (CEO) Nick Miller said, “We are disappointed with Alcoa's decision to displace a locally-manufactured product with imports from multiple sources. We will work quickly to mitigate the impact on local jobs supporting our lime business and we remain committed to supplying our Western Australia resources sector customers.”

Australia: Boral has appointed Zlatko Todorcevski has been appointed its chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director with effect from 1 July 2020. Boral’s current CEO and managing director, Mike Kane, will retire in September 2020 allowing for a transition period.

Todorcevski has 30 years of experience in Australia and internationally in steel building products, oil and gas and logistics, working in finance, business planning and strategy roles, including as chief financial officer (CFO) of Brambles from 2012 to 2016 and Oil Search from 2009 to 2012. This followed a 23-year career at BHP in finance and business development roles across BHP’s steel building products and petroleum businesses, culminating in the role of CFO Energy at BHP based in the US.

Since March 2017, Todorcevski has been on the board of construction materials company, Adelaide Brighton, where he has served as chairman and since May 2019 as deputy chairman and Lead Independent Director. He has stepped down from the board of Adelaide Brighton with immediate effect. Todorcevski is also on the board of Coles Group, where he serves as chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee, and The Star Entertainment Group, where he is chair of the Audit Committee. He will leave these boards in an orderly manner over the coming months.

Born in Macedonia and raised in Australia, Todorcevski completed a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Wollongong in 1991 and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Wollongong in 1994.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s profit in 2019 was US$31.1m, down by 74% from US$122m in 2018. Sales were down by 7% to US$997m from US$1.07bn. Adelaide Brighton chairman Raymond Barro explained that ‘increased competition and softer demand for construction materials’ locally impacted revenue and earnings. He said that ‘cost pressures across sea freight, transport and raw materials’ caused the dive in profit.

Australia: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says that Barro Group’s acquisition of a 43% stake in Adelaide Brighton will not ‘substantially’ lessen competition. The ACCC examined the completed acquisition closely because the two vertically integrated companies have overlap in the market for the supply of cement, ready-mixed concrete and aggregates.

It found Barro and Adelaide Brighton will continue to face competition from Boral, Holcim and Hanson, three large vertically integrated competitors with national operations, along with a number of smaller independent competitors. The ACCC looked at competition impacts on the pre-mixed concrete and aggregates markets in Melbourne, Brisbane and Townsville, where Barro and Adelaide Brighton’s operations overlap and did not identify any areas of concern.

Barro did not seek informal merger clearance from the ACCC prior to acquiring Adelaide Brighton. However, the ACCC says it may reopen its investigation if it receives further information that alters its current conclusions.