Displaying items by tag: Europe

Russia: Cemros will transition to a four-day work week across its plants from 1 October 2025 in response to declining cement consumption and rising imports. The producer said the part-time regime aims to preserve jobs and will retain the ‘full social package’, according to the local Construction Business News Agency. It will reverse the measure if the construction industry improves.

Cemros said the change is a “forced, but balanced measure aimed at long-term preservation of stability and social balance during a period of instability.” The producer previously suspended operations at its Belgorod cement plant due to lower profitability and increased imports.

Norway: thyssenkrupp Polysius will supply the kiln system for SMA Mineral’s quicklime plant, designed to operate without CO₂ emissions using SaltX’s electric calcination technology. The pilot facility is scheduled for completion in 2027, and will produce 40,000t/yr of quicklime. The project has received €24m in funding from Norwegian state enterprise Enova.

thyssenkrupp Polysius CEO Christian Myland said “We are proud to contribute to this landmark project that sets a new standard for sustainable lime production. Our collaboration with SMA Mineral and SaltX Technology demonstrates how industrial partnerships can accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions. This project is a testament to our commitment to engineering solutions that drive decarbonisation.”

The partnership between SaltX Technology and thyssenkrupp Polysius follows the signing of a Letter of Intent in February 2025.

North Macedonia: Titan subsidiary Cementarnica Usje recorded a 22% year-on-year drop in net profit to €12.3m in the first half of 2025, according to financial statements released. The company said that its operating revenue fell by 9% to €47m in the period.

Spain: FCC recorded net attributable profit of €80.7m in the first half of 2025, 71% lower year-on-year than the €279m for the same period of 2024. The group explained that the reduction was due to the financial spin-off of its cement and real estate divisions (now Inmocemento) and unfavourable exchange rate fluctuations. Between January and June 2025, FCC's consolidated net revenue amounted to €4.56bn, a 7.6% increase compared to the same period in 2024.

Germany: Heidelberg Materials revenue grew by 4% year-on-year to €10.4bn in the first half of 2025 from €9.99bn in the same period in 2024. Its result from current operations before depreciation and amortisation (RCOBD) rose by 5.6% to €1.93bn from €1.83bn. By region revenue and RCOBD rose everywhere except for Pacific Asia and North America respectively.

Dominik von Achten, chair of Heidelberg Materials, said “Next to price adjustments, our strict cost management has proven particularly effective in the second quarter. Our ongoing Transformation Accelerator initiative is fully on track and has helped us to grow our earnings once again with further increasing cost savings… Even though demand is still volatile in some regions, we expect that stabilisation in our core markets is continuing.”

The group opened the world's first industrial-scale carbon capture and storage unit at its Brevik cement plant in Norway in June 2025. Production also started in May 2025 at its calcined clay plant joint-venture in Ghana. In July 2025 the group commenced operations at an industrial pilot plant for enforced carbonation in Górażdże, Poland.

Switzerland: Holcim’s net sales fell by 2.2% year-on-year to €8.46bn in the first half of 2025 from €8.65bn in the same period in 2024. However, sales rose by 1.8% when adjusted for local currencies. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 3% to €1.55bn from €1.50bn. By region sales and earnings rose on an adjusted basis in all territories except in Europe. Here the group said “There is a robust infrastructure project pipeline, and the residential sector is showing signs of recovery.”

The group completed the spin-off of its North America-based business in late June 2025. The group is now promoting its NextGen Growth 2030 strategy, released in March 2025, to advance the business. Also during the reporting period, Holcim made four acquisitions in the aggregates sector: Tribex in Serbia; Klokotnitsa IM EOOD and Zhablyano AD, both in Bulgaria; and SA.RE.MER in France. Its Building Solutions made six acquisitions: Compañía Minera Luren in Peru; Algimouss in France; CPC AG in Germany; Horcrisa in Argentina; and Société des Bétons de la Vallée de Seine (SBVS) in France. It also closed the divestment of Karbala Cement Manufacturing in Iraq.

Greece: Titan sales remained stable at €1.33bn in the first half of 2025 due to strong sales in Greece and Egypt. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 2% year-on-year to €287m from €281m in the same period in 2024. Sales and earnings fell in the US due to poor weather and a subdued residential market. In Egypt the group noted a ‘construction boom’ connected to foreign investment in tourism-related developments. During the reporting period the company completed the divestment of its stake in Türkiye-based Adocim.

Spain: Molins sales revenue fell by 5% year-on-year top €659m in the first half of 2025 due to negative currency exchange effects in Mexico and Argentina. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 8% to €175m. However, both sales and earnings rose if adjusted for currency effects due to price rises and good performance otherwise in Europe and South America.

Marcos Cela, the CEO of Molins, said, "The results for the first half of 2025 reflect the strength of our business model, capable of responding firmly in a complex global environment, which has continued to be marked by economic uncertainty and currency volatility.” In June 2025 the group said it had spent €100m on expansion in the precast concrete sector by buying Portugal-based precast concrete producer Concremat and by starting to build a new plant in Spain.

Italy: Cementir said that its first half results for 2025 were ‘in line’ with management expectations. The group reported revenues of €797m, a 1.9% year-on-year all compared to the same period of 2024. Its profit for the six-month period was €73.5m, a 24.2% fall.

The company reported higher revenues in its Nordic & Baltic region, as well as in Türkiye and Malaysia, although it faced foreign exchange related headwinds in Türkiye and Egypt. Cement sales volumes were broadly stable thanks, the company said, to growth in Türkiye, its Nordic & Baltic region and Malaysia. There was a decline in volumes sold in all its other regions.

The company said that its first half performance was impacted by a fire in the alternative fuel feeding system at its Gaurain plant in Belgium and technical issues during the restart of the second production line in Egypt, which led to a delay in restarting shipments.

France: Vicat’s sales remained stable at €1.89bn on a like-for-like basis in the first half of 2025. This was attributed to negative currency exchange effects in Brazil, Egypt and Türkiye, and a slowdown in activity in the US. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 2% year-on-year to €331m from €353m in the same period in 2024. Cement and concrete sales volumes dropped by 2.5% to 13.7Mt and 3.9% to 4.4Mm³ respectively. Aggregates volumes rose by 5.8% to 11.3Mt. By region sales revenue and earnings fell in France yet rose in the rest of Europe and the Mediterranean. It fell elsewhere.

“The group continues to implement its market plan, with the start-up of Kiln 6 in Senegal, a major driver of the group’s organic growth, development in the construction chemicals business with the merger between VPI and Cermix, and the acquisition of Realmix, which strengthens the group’s vertical integration in Brazil,” said Guy Sidos, Vicat’s chair and CEO.