Displaying items by tag: CRH

Holcim agreed to sell its Indian assets to Adani Group this week for US$6.37bn. These include Holcim’s stakes in its local subsidiaries Ambuja Cement and ACC. The deal, if approved by the local competition body, should complete in the second half of 2022. This is one of the larger sales of cement company assets over the last decade. Adani Group, an Indian-based conglomerate with businesses across energy, transport and more, is now poised to become the second largest cement producer in India.

Global Cement Weekly previously covered a potential sale of Ambuja Cement and ACC in April 2022 when the story that Holcim was looking for a buyer first emerged in the Indian press. At the time local press speculated that the sale could generate as much as US$15bn for Holcim. So it is interesting to see that a figure of US$6.37bn has been agreed upon instead, less than half of the speculative figure. Roughly, as ever, this places a value of a little below US$100/t of cement production capacity. This seems like a relatively low pricing for these plants by international standards over the last decade. However, this doesn’t take into account many factors such as, for example, the condition of the plants, Holcim’s desire to change its business, the ease of selling up in India all in one go, other non-cement assets and so on. For Adani Group though, buying into heavy building materials production in a large market like India clearly seemed attractive. It is also worth noting that, similar to other cement sector acquisitions recently, here again is a buyer with a background in another carbon-heavy industry buying into another heavy emitter.

Table 1: Selected large scale acquisitions of controlling shares in non-Chinese cement production assets since 2012. Source: Global Cement news and company releases. Italcementi acquisition value reported by Reuters.

Table 1 above provides some historical context to Adani Group’s agreed acquisition by comparing it to other large completed deals in the cement sector over the last decade. Don’t forget that it is only looking at this from the cement sector. This list excludes changes in ownership in the Chinese cement companies in this period because, generally, there has been a government-driven consolidation in the industry through mergers rather than large-scale acquisitions. So, for example, the world’s current biggest cement producer CNBM had a reported production capacity of 350Mt/yr in 2012 and this rose to 514Mt/yr in 2020 as it absorbed other state-owned companies. The big merger it underwent during this time was with China National Materials (Sinoma) in 2018, primarily an engineering company that also produced cement.

The most obvious trend in Table 1 is the journey of Lafarge and Holcim from their merger in 2015 and the gradual realignment of the business subsequently. During this time the company has sold up in large markets outside of its core regions in Europe and North America. Latterly, it has also started to diversify away from heavy into lightweight building materials. One notable ‘nearly happened’ was LafargeHolcim’s attempt to sell its business in the Philippines to San Miguel Corporation for US$2.15bn in 2019. That deal collapsed when the Philippines Competition Authority failed to approve it within a year of its proposal. CRH enlarged itself from assets sold during the creation of LafargeHolcim and then picked up Ash Grove in the US in 2018. CRH’s head Albert Manifold memorably said in 2018 that his company was focusing on markets in developed countries and CRH’s large-scale acquisitions have largely followed this.

As for the others, HeidelbergCement’s purchase of Italcementi in 2016 almost appeared as a riposte to the formation of LafargeHolcim, albeit on a slightly smaller scale. It confirmed HeidelbergCement’s place as the world’s second largest non-Chinese cement producer. It is also one of the minority of truly multinational acquisitions on this list. Unlike LafargeHolcim and now Holcim though, HeidelbergCement hasn’t exhibited a desire to downsize or diversify at quite the same speed. UltraTech Cement’s acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates in 2017 confirmed its place as the largest Indian producer. That deal was publicly one of the longer lasting one as it originally started out in at least 2014 on a smaller scale and was later slowed down by the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Amendment Act. Smikon’s purchase of Eurocement in 2021 almost looks like part of the isolation of the Russian economy, especially with the benefit of hindsight given by the invasion of the Ukraine in early 2022.

Mega-deals have lots of moving parts but two of the most tangible to broader audiences are the price and the timing. Cemex infamously got both of these wrong with its acquisition of Rinker in 2007 as it paid high just as the US subprime mortgage crisis started a wider global financial one. This was despite Cemex’s emergence over the previous 15 years as a multinational force to be reckoned with due in part to the so-called ‘Cemex Way’ approach to management, acquisitions and integration. Clear winners from the big acquisitions over the last decade are harder to spot but CRH and UltraTech Cement look strong so far. Adani Group has certainly picked a lively time to make a purchase on this scale following a global pandemic with ongoing global supply chain issues and disruptions to energy and food markets.

Many first quarter financial results for cement producers are out already and what can be seen so far deserves discussion. The first observation is that the sales revenues of Chinese companies have suffered compared to their international peers. As can be seen in Graph 1 (below) CNBM increased its sales slightly in the first quarter of 2022 but Anhui Conch and China Resources Cement (CRC) had significant falls. Stronger results from CNBM’s non-cement production subsidiaries released so far suggest that the parent company’s slow performance is likely due to the cement market. The China Cement Association has reported that national cement output dropped by 12% year-on-year to 387Mt in the first quarter of 2022. It blamed this on the latest local coronavirus wave, limited construction project funds and poor weather.

Graph 1: Sales revenues in the first quarter of 2022 from selected cement producers. Source: Company financial reports. Note: SCG data is for its building materials division only.

Outside of China sales revenue growth has been better with Holcim and Dangote Cement leading the companies presented here. Holcim attributed its success to “strong demand, acquisitions and pricing”. Demand and pricing have been familiar refrains in many of the results reports this quarter. The undertone though has been the destabilising effects upon energy prices by the ongoing war in Ukraine. Holcim’s head Jan Jenisch summed it up as navigating “challenging times, from the pandemic to geopolitical uncertainty.” The producers with operations in the Americas and Europe seem to have coped with this so far mostly due to resurgent markets. Quarterly sales revenue growth for Holcim, CRH (not shown in the graphs) and Cemex each exceeded 10% year-on-year in both of these regions.

The regionally focused companies presented here have suffered more. India-based UltraTech Cement said that its energy costs grew by 48%, with prices of petcoke and coal doubling during the period. Nigeria-based Dangote Cement reported that its group sales volumes were down 3.6% mainly due to energy supply challenges in Nigeria. Internationally, its operations relying on cement and clinker imports – in Ghana, Sierra-Leone and Cameroon – were also hit by high freight rates caused by global supply chain issues. Thailand-based SCG said that national demand for cement demand fell by 3% due to negative geopolitical effects causing inflation, a delay to the recovery of tourism and a generally subdued market.

Graph 2: Cement sales volumes in the first quarter of 2022 from selected cement producers. Source: Company financial reports.

It’s too early to read much into it but one final point is worth considering from cement sales volumes in the first quarter of 2022. They have appeared to fall for the companies that have actually released the data. The reasons for CRC in China and Dangote Cement in Sub-Saharan Africa have been covered above. Holcim’s volume decline was 2% on a like-for-like basis and the others were all very small changes.

To summarise, it’s been a good quarter for those cement producers covered here with operations in North American and Europe. Energy instability caused by the war in Ukraine so far seems to have been passed on to consumers through higher prices with no apparent ill effect. The regional producers have suffered more, with the Chinese ones having to cope with falling demand and the others finding it harder to absorb mounting energy costs and supply chain issues. Plenty more first quarter results are due from other cement companies in the next few days and weeks and it will be interesting to see whether these trends hold or if others are taking place.

Ireland: CRH has completed its divestment of its building envelope business. The group has reported the value of the deal as US$3.8bn.

In February 2022, CRH said that it had entered into a binding agreement to divest the building envelope business to US-based private equity firm KPS Capital Partners. It added that the decision to divest at an ‘attractive valuation’ followed a comprehensive review, demonstrating its active approach to portfolio management, the efficient allocation of capital and the creation of a simpler and more focused group.

France: Eqiom has launched its new reduced-CO₂ CEM II/C cement range on the French market. The range includes the Portland limestone, slag and clinker filler CEM II/CM (SL) 42.5 N cement produced at its La Rochelle cement plant. The cement is the first product to obtain NF certification from the Scientific and Technical Center for Building (CSTB) under its new standard designation EN 195-5. The producer says that in mid-2022 EN 197-5 will assimilate into the EN 206/CN standard for use in structural concrete.

Eqiom said that the range will offer its customers a more sustainable alternative to its other NF EN 197-1 certified compositions. La Rochelle cement plant operations manager Ahmed Mansouri said “We are proud of this result, which is the result of close collaboration between the different Eqiom teams. This commitment has made it possible to provide our customers with a solution with low CO₂ emissions while guaranteeing sufficient performance so as not to impact practices on the construction sites.”

Ireland: CRH’s first-quarter consolidated sales rose by 15% year-on-year in 2022. Its Americas Materials business’ sales rose by 13%, while its Europe Materials business sales rose by 11%. Cement volumes in the Americas region remained in line with 2021 levels as strong Central and Southern regional demand offset weather-impacted performances in Canada and some Western regions, and the company noted ‘good’ price momentum in Canada and the US. The company’s Europe Materials business recorded some volume increases, partly due to favourable weather conditions.

During the quarter, CRH made US$600m-worth of new acquisitions, and retains a ‘strong’ opportunities pipeline. The group says that its integrated solutions strategy continues to deliver across all divisions.

Chief executive officer Albert Manifold said “Although a number of challenges and uncertainties continue, our demand backdrop remains favourable and, absent any major dislocations in the macroeconomic environment, we expect first-half sales, earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and margin to be ahead of the prior year period.” During the first half of 2022, the company also expects to complete US$600m-worth of its on-going share buyback programme.

Switzerland: Jura Cement has commissioned a regenerative thermal oxidation system at its Wildegg plant. The air pollution control system, supplied by Dürr, was installed to meet anticipated lower gas emission limits for carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and ammonia (NH3).

France: CRH subsidiary Eqiom has successfully commissioned its Gennevilliers construction waste recycling pilot plant. Prior to the plant’s opening, Eqiom recycled 10,000t of construction waste in the first quarter of 2022. It is now aiming to recycle 50,000t in 2022.

The company says that its continual efforts are making the circular economy possible in the construction sector.

Canada: Jean Boulet, the labour minister of Quebec, has called for an end to a long-running labour dispute at Ash Grove’s Joliette cement plant that has been running since mid-2021. Around 130 members of the Unifor union were locked out by management, according to Postmedia Breaking News. In a message on social media Boulet invited the parties to "concentrate their efforts at the negotiation table with a conciliator." The union alleges that company owner CRH has been importing raw materials to make cement from Greece or Turkey whilst the workers have been excluded from the plant. Negotiations will continue in mid-April 2022.

France: The European Commission (EC) has awarded funding under its Innovation Fund 2021 for CRH subsidiary Eqiom’s upgrade to its Lumbres, Hauts-de-France, cement plant. The work includes the replacement of a kiln and the installation of a carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) system at the plant, in collaboration with Air Liquide. The producer says that the project is one of seven selected under the EC’s K6 programme of innovation funding in line with the EU Green Deal.

The economic fallout from the war in Ukraine continued this week with the news that Holcim plans to leave the Russian market. It said that it took the decision based on its “values to operate in the most responsible manner.” The company’s Russian subsidiary added that all of its plants would continue to operate as normal while it considered its divestment options.

Holcim’s road to withdrawal has been staggered. In February 2022 at the start of the war it pronounced its sympathy for any affected colleagues and their families and made a Euro1m donation to the Red Cross. Later it said that it would continue operating its business in Russia by following all regulations and supplying the local market. However, at this time it said it would suspend further capital investments in Russia and that it would “not benefit from our presence in this market.”

It’s unknown what prompted Holcim to take the plunge with Russia one month after the war started. At the very least, making decisions over assets valued this highly takes time. CM Pro has reported that the Russian government has considered introducing reference prices for building materials for infrastructure projects and that the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has been monitoring prices for ‘unreasonable’ growth over the last month. This follows grumbling by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in late 2021 about an apparent low capacity utilisation rate in the country despite shortages in the Central Federal District.

CRH said that it was leaving its Russian concrete business in early March 2022. Yet the decision by Holcim makes it the first of the three western multinational cement producers with large-scale operations in Russia to publicly say it’s pulling out. Holcim, HeidelbergCement and Buzzi Unicem each operate at least two integrated cement plants in the region.

Lafarge entered the Russian market in 1996. Its successor Holcim runs plants at Voskresensk and Kolomna in the Moscow region, at Ferzikovo in the Kaluga region and Volsk in the Saratov region. Together the plants have a production capacity of around 9Mt/yr. Over the last decade Holcim and its predecessor has invested at least a reported Euro1.3bn in three of the plants. The dry-production line Ferzikovo plant was built in 2015. The Shchurovsky plant in Kolomna was originally founded in 1870 and claims to be the oldest in the country. In 2011 it started commissioned a new dry production line. The Volsk plant started a modernisation project in 2017. The fourth, the Voskresensk plant, was mothballed in 2016. However, in early February 2022 LafargeHolcim Russia said it was aiming to spend Euro23m towards restarting production at the site. This was likely due to a boom in construction in 2021. The subsidiary also owns three aggregate quarries in the Republic of Karelia region of the country, near the border with Finland.

Selling up in Russia looks set to be difficult for Holcim. This is principally due to the European and American economic sanctions and the Russian government’s stated intention to nationalise the assets of any company trying to leave. This is clearly why Holcim has worded its plans so vaguely. If or when a peace deal is reached between Russia and Ukraine, the business environment could change significantly, depending on the terms, complicating any existing sale process. Determining how much Holcim might want to get from such a sale in these conditions is complex. Smikom bought Eurocement from Sberbank for Euro2.1bn in 2021 giving it 10 plants. Could Holcim realistically expect to sell its plants for around Euro200m each in the current environment? As for the hit Holcim might take, in its annual report for 2021 it said that the group’s Russian operations represented around 1% of the 2021 consolidated net sales. This would have been around Euro260m. Its Russian cement production capacity was reported as being 9Mt/yr in 2021 or 3% of the group’s global figure of 293Mt/yr.

Finally, it is worth noting though that Lafarge’s charges of ‘complicity in crimes against humanity’ also continued to be tested in the French courts this week. The legal case relates to the conduct of Lafarge in Syria between 2011 and 2014. This is totally separate from the situation in Russia but it does highlight the issue of corporate ethics for the group once again. Following proceedings in December 2021, Beat Hess, chair of the board of Holcim said, “The described events concerning Lafarge SA were concealed from the Holcim board at the time of the merger in 2015 and go completely against the values of our company.” Consider that use of ‘values’ again. Holcim may be about to find out how much it is prepared to pay for its values as it departs Russia.