Displaying items by tag: Croatia

Croatia: Holcim Croatia is looking to post flat revenues in 2014, while hoping to raise them by 15% in 2015, according to the company's chairman Alan Sisinacki. Holcim Croatia currently operates one cement plant, two cement terminals, two concrete plants and three aggregates quarries.

In 2014 Holcim Croatia is hoping to cut its loss to Euro2.49m under its on-going '2015 Plus' programme, which should return the company to profitability in 2015. The turnaround plan is already yielding results, with Holcim Croatia posting an operating profit in the first half of 2014, the highest result over the last five years.

Sisinacki expects Holcim Croatia's cement sales to remain unchanged in terms of volume in 2014, with sales of aggregates also flat. The company's concrete sales are set to drop in terms of volume in 2014 due to the sale, closure or leasing out of a significant chunk of its unprofitable concrete-producing assets. Sisinacki said that his expectations for Holcim Croatia's 2014 performance are based on official statistical data showing a 4.0% year-on-year decline of building construction and 10% fall in other civil construction works in the first quarter of 2014 in Croatia.

During the first six months of 2014 cement demand dropped by 6.0%, according to data from the association of cement producers in Croatia. Market conditions in Slovenia and Italy, Holcim Croatia's biggest export markets, are not looking any better. Sisinacki said that Holcim Croatia is trying to offset this growth weakness by exporting to northern Africa, taking advantage of the cement plant conveniently located in the Koromacno port.

Croatia: HeidelbergCement is interested in bidding for the Croatian cement plant Nasicecement, according to HeidelbergCement's regional director Branimir Muidza.

"We are still very interested in the acquisition and we are carefully monitoring the situation of Nasicecement's pre-bankruptcy settlement. If an opportunity arises we are ready to invest," said Muidza to SeeNews. HeidelbergCement has previously held a 8% stake in Nasicecement.

In February 2013 Nexe Grupa, who own Nasicecement, revealed that it had submitted a motion for the opening of a pre-bankruptcy settlement procedure. Its subsidiaries did likewise. Acquiring Nasicecement could compliment HeidelbergCement's strategy in the Balkans as it holds cement plants in Hungary and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Croatia: Croatian building materials producer Nexe Grupa has submitted a motion for the opening of a pre-bankruptcy settlement procedure. The company also said in a bourse filing that its affiliates Nasicement, Dilj, Luka Tranzit, Igma and Nexe Beton have likewise filed for pre-bankruptcy settlement before the competent authorities.

By setting the bankruptcy procedure in motion, Nexe Grupa wishes to accelerate the financial and operational restructuring of the company, having in mind the large number of creditors involved, the company said in a separate statement.

Nexe Grupa comprises around 20 companies operating in Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro. It runs the Nasicecement cement plant in Nasice with a cement production capacity of 1Mt/yr.

Croatia: The CEO of Holcim Croatia has said that the company expects flat revenues in 2012 compared to 2011, while it expects to maintain its capacity utilisation rate of 80%. "The last three years were extremely difficult for the construction sector in Croatia," explained Mario Grassl. "Annual cement consumption in Croatia has contracted by 40% compared to 2008. The lack of investment in the construction sector and an unfavourable ratio of fixed costs compared to sales volumes are the main reasons for the loss of around Euro2.5m that Holcim Croatia posted in 2011."

To make matters worse, the overcapacity of local and international producers has depressed sale prices while input costs, mainly those related to fuels, raw materials, energy and distribution, have increased significantly. On top of that, the recent increase in Croatia's VAT rate from 23% to 25% is an additional burden for the end user.

Demand for construction materials in Croatia is still declining. Grassl said that he thinks that a full recovery to pre-crisis levels is still at least three years away. The customer base has been shrinking due to bankruptcy and liquidation procedures and although expectations for improved liquidity in the business sector are high, they will have to be underpinned by stimulus measures at government level. "Based on data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, the number of finished residential construction projects in 2011 was around 23% lower than in 2010. Looking ahead, there are no major projects that could be realistically expected to get underway in the next six months. Therefore we expect demand this year to stay at the 2011 level with consumption of cement flat at around 1.8Mt," Grassl said.

Despite the sharp drop in domestic demand over the last few years, Holcim has managed to maintain a share of around 20% of the Croatian market.The company's revenue grew by around 6% in 2011 and Grassl said that he expects a flat performance in that respect in 2012 in a 'best-case' scenario.

In 2011 Holcim Croatia managed to post a growth in exports to Italy and to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the low single digits and expects exports to be similar in 2012. The company exports approximately 20% of its output to Italy which is its largest export market, followed by Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. "Due to logistic bottlenecks and costs we do not plan to enter new markets," Grassl said.

On all three segments of the building materials market where Holcim Croatia is active, investment activities in 2012 will be mainly related to maintenance and better cost management. "For example, in the first quarter of the year we invested Euro1m at the Koromacno cement plant in the reconstruction of a clinker cooler. This will increase thermal energy efficiency and decrease maintenance costs," said Grassl.