Displaying items by tag: Boral

Australia: Boral has been halting production at its various production plants when the cost of electricity becomes too high. “At a certain point during the day, when the price goes up to a certain level, our manufacturing stops,” Chief executive officer Vik Bansal told the Australian Financial Review energy and climate summit. He added that the company had assessed that it was cheaper to have “thousands of people waiting idle for the prices to come down than actually do the work.” Additional reporting by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper revealed that Boral’s staff had been working overtime and in night shifts to manage energy costs and to maintain the supply of building material products to its customers. Bansal told the summit that the company’s electricity costs rose by 54% in the 12 months to the end of June 2023.

However, Bansal was not clear whether all or just some of Boral’s plants have been stopping production temporarily due to peak daily electricity prices. The company produces cement, lime, concrete, asphalt and aggregates at 360 locations.

Boral has signed a fixed-price, 10-year power purchase agreement that will cover 19% of its renewable electricity needs to 2035, but is reportedly struggling to find other cost-effective options. In August 2023 it also reduced its emissions reduction target to 2025 from 2019 figures to up to 14% from 19% previously. It blamed this on “external factors” such as delays in securing the required regulatory approvals for the next phases of an alternative fuel program.

Australia: Boral has appointed Jean-Paul Wallace as its General Counsel and company secretary. He succeeds Peter Lim who held the posts on an interim basis.

Wallace has worked for Australia-based and international law firms. He has also held positions in the engineering and construction sectors for almost 20 years, with General Counsel and company secretary roles at UGL, Tenix and CPB Contractors. He holds an undergraduate degrees in art and law from the University of Sydney and a graduate diploma in corporate governance from the Governance Institute of Australia.

Australia: Boral’s sales were US$2.28bn in the 2023 financial year, which ended on 30 June 2023. This corresponds to a 38% year-on-year rise from the previous first half. The group’s net profit dropped by 1.3% to US$96.6m. It noted a rise in its costs of energy, labour and transport, which it expects to continue up to the end of June 2024, and possibly on throughout the second half of 2024.

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper has reported that Australian residential construction activity dropped by 7.7% month-on-month in June 2023. Boral CEO Vik Bansal said that the company expects residential, commercial and civil construction to return to growth in the 2024 financial year.

Australia: Adbri has appointed Jared Gashel as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He succeeds Dianne Mong, who has held the position of Acting CFO since March 2023. Mong will resume her role as the company’s General Manager Finance.

Gashel holds over 20 years of financial experience in multiple industries. Prior to joining Adbri, he was Acting CFO at Boral from 2022 to March 2023. His previous post at Boral was as Executive General Manager Group Finance and Property. Before joining Boral, he held multiple senior finance executive roles in Australia and Switzerland, and spent more than a decade working for KPMG, where he specialised in advisory and capital markets.

Australia: Boral recorded sales of US$1.17bn during the first half of its 2023 financial year, up by 12% year-on-year from US$1.05bn during the first half of its 2022 financial year. Cement sales were US$128m, 11% of group sales. The producer’s net profit fell by 91% year-on-year to US$62.5m from US$715m.

During the half, Boral’s subsidiary Geelong Cement commissioned a new 0.8Mt/yr grinding unit at its 0.6Mt/yr Waurn Ponds grinding plant in Victoria. The group also upgraded the chlorine bypass system at its Berrima cement plant in New South Wales to support increased alternative fuel (AF) co-processing. Throughout 2022, Boral substituted 15% AF into its fuel mix.

Australia: Boral has appointed Belinda Shaw as its chief financial officer (CFO). She succeeds Jared Gashel, who has held the position of Acting CFO since April 2022.

Shaw holds over 25 years of professional experience, including more than 10 years of senior executive finance experience across multiple industries. She was appointed as Acting CFO of Sydney Airport, after three years at the company. Her previous roles included Deputy CFO, General Manager Finance, General Manager Investor Relations & Financial Control, and Head of Finance Transformation & Strategy. Prior to her time at Sydney Airport, Shaw worked at General Electric Company where she held roles including CFO ANZ & PNG, CFO Global Mining, and CFO Global Locomotive. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of South Australia and is a Fellow Certified Practicing Accountant (FCPA).

Australia: Boral has announced that Vik Bansal will start work as its chief executive officer and managing director on 10 October 2022. It was previously announced that he would succeed Zlatko Todorcevski in early December 2022.

Australia: Boral has posted a slump in its annual profit, which fell by a third year-on-year for the 12 months to 30 June 2022. It made a profit of US$73.7m, down from US$98m in the 12 months to 30 June 2021

The company said that the result had been impacted by rising energy and haulage costs, while severe rains in eastern Australia at the start of 2022 had forced temporary stoppages to numerous construction projects. The company withheld profit guidance in its announcement, saying only that it expected revenue to be higher in the 2023 fiscal year as a result of annual price increases and new freight charges for customers.

Australia: Boral announced the expiration of its tender offer for up to US$300m-worth of guaranteed senior notes on 21 July 2022. The producer recorded a total principal amount tendered of US$425.7m. The 3.75% notes are due in 2028.

Australia: Boral Finance has announced the early results of a tender offer to purchase cash up to US$300m. The principal amount tendered is US$405m. The tender offer will expire on 20 July 2022.