Displaying items by tag: Cemex
Colombia competition investigation to end soon
11 March 2015Colombia: Colombia's Superintendent of Industry and Commerce (SIC) is expected to issue a final ruling on its on-going competition investigation into the local cement industry. SIC intends to announce its findings by the middle of 2015 according to comments SIC head Pablo Felipe Robledo del Castillo made to local press. Meanwhile, Robledo also said he plans to present a bill on 16 March 2015 that would strengthen the sanctions for anticompetitive practices in Colombia.
"This rule will allow us to increase the sanctions above the nominal amount of US$25m, the current maximum, by adding percentages of a company's revenues or equity, in order to bolster the penalties," said Robledo.
SIC announced in late 2013 that it was investigating whether executives at Colombian cement companies had colluded to inflate cement prices in country since as early as 2010. The investigation targeted 14 current and former top directors at five firms, including Cementos Argos, Cemex and Holcim.
Cemex reaches new collective agreement with workers
05 March 2015Venezuela: Cemex has reached an agreement with the trade union representing its workers, Sintracea, regarding a new collective agreement. It is understood that discussions over a new agreement had been stalled for several years. As part of the new agreement, workers will receive a pay rise of Euro426, effective from 1 April 2015. This will benefit 1043 workers employed by Cemex at its plant in Pertigalete, Guanta, Anzoategui.
Czech Republic/Slovakia: The sale of Holcim's operations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia has prompted a series of management changes to Cemex's operations in those countries.
Hermann Dietrich has been appointed as Cemex's vice president for strategic planning in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Henning Weber has become the vice president for operation and technology at the cement division, Mariusz Kostowski has been named as the trade and logistics director with the cement division and Justus Geiseler has been appointed as the BSO director. Lubos Merunka and Hana Fidrova, who have been named as the head of the stone aggregate division and the company lawyer respectively, both came to Cemex from Holcim after the asset handover.
Cemex's general director in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Peter Dajko, has stated that the company is not planning any additional personnel changes in the foreseeable future.
Cemex to develop gas power plants in Mexico
03 March 2015Mexico: Cemex plans to build new power plants in Mexico using natural gas, according to Cemex Energia chief executive Luis Farias. "We are looking to develop a 300MW gas project in the north of the country, near the border with the US," said Farias. Cemex is also looking at a portfolio of three to five 70MW plants, complementing existing installations at its cement plants where it already has access to gas.
Holcim is rebranded as Cemex Cement in Czech Republic
26 February 2015Czech Republic: Holcim (Cesko) will change its name to Cemex Cement from 1 March 2015. At the same time, Holcim will transfer part of the plant producing ready-mixed concrete to Cemex Czech Republic and part of the stone aggregate production plant to Cemex Sand. The changes follow the acquisition of all of Holcim's assets in the Czech Republic by Cemex in January 2015.
Ventika wind park in northeast Mexico to open in quarter two of 2016
24 February 2015Mexico: Cemex expects its Ventika wind power project in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon to start operations between April and June 2016, according to Luis Farias Martinez, vice president of Energy and Sustainability. The construction of the project, which was initiated in the middle of 2014, is about half complete.
The Ventika project, comprised of two 126MW wind farms, is located some 128km from Nuevo Leon's capital city of Monterrey and approximately 56km from the US border. The project requires investments of a total US$650m, which will come from US investment company Fisterra Energy, majority owned by funds managed by Blackstone Group, Cemex and other private investors. The investments are structured as 75% debt and 25% capital investment, of which Cemex has provided 5%.
Martinez, who is also head of the newly-established Cemex Energia, added that the Ventika project, as well as all previous Cemex projects, are fully independent and are not included in Cemex Energia's plans to develop 1000MW renewable power projects in Mexico by 2020 in cooperation with Pattern Energy Group.
Cemex creates Cemex Energia to tap into energy reform
20 February 2015Mexico: Cemex has created an energy division, Cemex Energia, to take advantage of Mexico's landmark energy reform and launch power projects that could provide up to 5% of Mexico's electricity requirements within five years.
Cemex has struggled with a large debt load and cost-cutting since an ill-timed US$16bn takeover of Australian rival Rinker in 2007, when the US housing market nosedived. In recent years, Cemex has been slashing costs and has looked to sell assets to regain a coveted investment grade rating. Cemex executives are hopeful that Mexico's energy reform will be a lucrative new path.
"We are very enthusiastic about Mexico's energy sector future and we will leverage on our experience in developing projects that benefit the country," said Cemex CEO Fernando Gonzalez.
Cemex will invest US$30m in Cemex Energia in the next five years. Cemex has also signed a joint venture agreement with Pattern Energy Group Inc, which owns wind power projects, to create 1GW of renewable power in Mexico in the next five years. Pattern said that new legislation in Mexico, which mandates that 35% of Mexico's power must come from renewable sources by 2024, prompted it to expand.
Cemex guaranteed 35% stake in Trinidad Cement
18 February 2015Trinidad & Tobago: Cemex has struck a deal with the board of Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) that will allow Cemex to increase its stake in TCL to at least 35%, with the option to add another 5%.
Cemex SAB de CV currently owns 20% of TCL, the maximum that was allowable per shareholder, through Sierra Trading. It has committed not to seek a stake higher than 40% of TCL under an accompanying deal to an upcoming rights issue. The deal, referred to as a Subscription Agreement, was signed by Sierra and TCL on the same day that TCL's shareholders voted to remove the cap on ownership of TCL shares.
Sierra will take up its full allowable allotment under the rights offer that gives shareholders the option to acquire one additional share for every two held. Some 124,882,568 shares will be available for subscription. If Sierra fails to reach its 35% ownership target at the close of the offer, "Then subject to receiving all required approvals, including shareholder approval, a private placement of TCL shares will be issued in favour of Sierra Trading in an amount that will permit Sierra Trading to achieve a shareholding of 35% of TCL's outstanding shares," said a Trinidad Cement spokesperson. The TCL board, under the leadership of chairman and shareholder Wilfred Espinet, also signed off on an 'exclusive' plan for Sierra to buy up the TCL shares that are not taken up during the rights offer, but under terms where Sierra's stake does not exceed 40% of the publicly traded company.
The ownership structure of TCL is undergoing changes that, according to the board, will facilitate a new debt-restructuring plan under negotiation with creditors. The loan agreements of 2012 that lengthened the maturity profile of the debt by six years were placed on hold by the current board while it negotiated a new deal. Consequently, TCL's US$315m of long-term debt was reclassified as short-term obligations.
Commissioning to start at new UK SRF facility
12 February 2015UK: SITA UK has completed the construction of its Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) manufacturing plant at Malpass Farm in Rugby, Warwickshire. The plant will undergo a series of commissioning tests over the next few months before starting full-scale production of Climafuel SRF. This will be used to power the kiln at the adjacent Cemex UK Rugby cement plant.
The residual waste material arriving at the site will primarily be collected from commercial and industrial businesses across the region that would otherwise go to landfill. Once received on site any metals, plastics and paper will be extracted for recycling. Similarly, materials with a high chlorine content, which could damage the kiln, will also be extracted. Any residual waste material that is removed from the production process will be processed into refuse derived fuel (RDF) for use in waste-to-energy applications.
To produce the SRF, the remaining material is sifted, shredded and blended while being continuously analysed using infrared technology. This allows the plant operators to ensure that the fuel, which has a confetti-like consistency after processing, has the precise chemical composition and calorific value required by Cemex UK.
SITA UK's Head of Alternative Fuels, Andy Hill, said, "The residual waste material that will be delivered to this facility would have gone to landfill but, instead, we are going to take out anything that can be recycled and then turn what's left into a replacement fuel."
"We have been producing this fuel very successfully at our sister plant at Landor Street in Birmingham for the past couple of years, but this new facility implements the latest technology and will substantially increase our production capacity," continued Hill. "Between the two plants, we'll be producing around 250,000t/yr of Climafuel."
SITA UK is currently also investing in new SRF manufacturing facilities at the Port of Tilbury in Essex, which are currently under construction. SITA UK currently supplies SRF to CEMEX UK and to CEMEX Latvia.
Cemex’s net loss narrows on higher operating gains
06 February 2015Mexico: Cemex's net loss narrowed in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to the prior year as higher operating profits offset the effect on sales of weaker currencies against the US Dollar, according to Reuters.
Cemex reported a net loss of US$178m for the October - December 2014 period, compared with a loss of US$255m in the fourth quarter of 2013. Lower financial costs and higher operating profits helped to narrow the loss. Sales slipped by 1% in the quarter to US$3.8bn as weaker currencies against the US Dollar offset greater sales volume in most markets. Adjusting for exchange rates, sales were up by 5% from the fourth quarter of 2013. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 9% to US$701m in the quarter, bringing the total for the full year to US$2.7bn. Adjusting for currencies, EBIDTA was up by 16% in the quarter.
A construction recovery in Mexico led to a 5% rise in sales to US$827m, while in the US sales rose by 13% to US$923m. Sales fell in Europe and South and Central America, but rose in Asia. Globally, Cemex sold 17.2Mt of cement in the fourth quarter of 2014, up by 5% from the year-ago period.
Chief executive Fernando González said that Cemex narrowed its net loss in 2014 for a third consecutive year. Despite an earnings recovery, Cemex maintains high levels of debt that were taken on during past acquisitions. Cemex lowered its total debt in 2014 to US$16.3bn from US$17.5bn at the end of 2013. "We continue to improve our debt maturity profile and interest expense through our debt reduction of almost US$1.2bn and our refinancing activities of approximately US$5bn during the year," said González.
Cemex expects to sell up to US$1.5bn in assets over the next 12 - 18 months and that investments will reach US$800m in 2015. It expects cement sales volumes to grow by mid-single digits in 2015 and to generate US$300m in cost and spending reductions during the year. Cemex also expects to pay US$500m in debt payments in 2015.