Displaying items by tag: France

France: Vicat’s sales have risen due to its acquisition of Ciplan in Brazil. Its sales rose by 4.7% year-on-year to Euro600m in the first quarter of 2019 from Euro573m in the same period in 2018. However, adjusted for the acquisition, its sales remain stable. The group’s cement sales revenue fell by 1.4% to Euro302m when similarly adjusted. Its concrete and aggregate sales rose by 6.6% to Euro225m.

“The rise in prices across all zones has resulted in stable consolidated sales at constant scope and perimeter, despite strong volume erosions in Turkey as a result of the 2018 lira devaluation and of the consequences of highly adverse weather conditions in California. The integration of Ciplan in Brazil is on track amid conditions that are stabilising after several years of major consumption falls,” said chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Guy Sidos.

By region sales were strong in France, stable in the rest of Europe and Africa and poor in the Americas, Asia and Turkey. Poor weather in California dragged down sales in the US, competition was reported in India and an economic slowdown was reported in Turkey.

France: The General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCRF) has fined Ciments Calcia Euro0.67m for late payments to other businesses. France Manche, the local subsidiary of Eurotunnel, and insurance company MMA were also fined. The ceiling for such fines was increased to Euro2m from below Euro0.4m in late 2016 and is applicable to invoices issues since then. Ciments Calcia is a subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement.

US: National Cement is tendering for a new 5000t/day production line at its Ragland plant in Alabama. The subsidiary of France’s Vicat has reportedly had a permit for the upgrade since 2006. The plant operates one dry process kiln with a production capacity of 1.9Mt/yr.

France: Cemex says that it will match the donations made by its employees to help restore the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The donations will be handled by the Fondation du patrimoine (French Heritage Foundation), a private organisation dedicated to saving French cultural and natural heritage. The 800-year old cathedral was devastated by fire on 15 April 2019.

In addition, Cemex will help the reconstruction efforts through its range of technical and specialised products and services, the availability of its research and development centres based in Biel and Paris and assistance with material specifications and mix designs through its laboratory services.

France/Thailand: SCG Cement has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with France’s Constant Energy to build 50MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) units at its plants and associated companies. The target is to deploy and commission the solar PV plants over the next three years, through rooftop-based, ground-mounted and floating solar PV plants. Engineering of a first solar PV plants has started and the pre-construction permitting and licensing process will be handled in the second quarter of 2019, followed by construction.

China/France: Song Zhi Ping, president of China National Building Material Company (CNBM), and Frédéric Sanchez, chairman of Fives, have signed strategic agreement towards climate change and cooperation in third countries. This agreement develops the collaboration plans drawn up in January 2019 between cement plant manufacturer CNBM the engineering group Fives. It forecasts a volume of business of at least Euro600m over three years, and forms part of CNBM’s stated strategy of developing in partnership with western companies. The agreement was signed at the Elysée Palace in Paris during a state visit to France by China’s President Xi Jinping.

The agreement focuses on upgrading CNBM’s cement plants in China, building new plants outside of China and creating a Joint Engineering Centre to implement these projects and share information. The Joint Engineering Centre was inaugurated on 28 February 2019 in Shanghai. With regards to modernising its cement production lines in China, Fives said that its technologies, in grinding in particular, would ‘significantly’ improve performance and return on investment with regards to modernising CNBM’s domestic cement production lines. Fives said that the agreement is in full alignment with the Paris Agreement. It added that the agreement also shows the ‘mutual trust’ between the two companies with respect to intellectual property.

France: LafargeHolcim France has started the second phase of a Euro100m upgrade project its Martres-Tolosane cement plant. It is starting the construction phase of a new production line following the completion of site preparation and civil engineering. French company Boccard is coordinating the work. Commissioning of the upgrade is scheduled for mid-2020.

France: HGH Infrared Systems is expanding its brand name across its subsidiaries around the world. It says it is developing its brand image and communication strategy to suit its position as a global leader in the optronics market as its sales grow. Asia Infrared Systems, HGH’s subsidiary in Singapore, and Electro Optical Industries (EOI), will take on the HGH identity.

In 2016 HGH acquired EOI, a producer of electro optical test equipment based in Santa Barbara, California in the US. HGH’s and EOI’s products include SPYNEL thermal cameras, blackbody sources, integrating spheres, electro-optical test benches, NVD testing solutions and thermographic scanners. They cover the whole spectrum of light from visible to infrared radiation.

‘’By opting for a harmonised universal brand, we are strengthening our corporate culture and our shared commitment across our subsidiaries. This common identity is built upon quality care, customer service and innovation values, and opens door to a dynamic and highly promising future,’ said Thierry Campos, the chief executive officer (CEO) of HGH Infrared Systems.

There was lots to mull over in the latest Committee for European Construction Equipment (CECE) Annual Economic Report. The headlines were that the construction industry market peaked in 2017 and that the mining industry was still recovering, but maybe slowing, in 2018.

For the construction industry the CECE reported that a growth period from 2008 to 2018 reached a high level of growth of 4.1% in 2017. This fell to 2.8% growth in 2018 and is forecast to drop to 2% growth in 2019. It put this in terms of the sector having a cyclical nature, normally of around eight years. This means it believes a downturn is overdue. Slowing gross domestic product (GDP) growth and tighter financial and monetary conditions are expected to drag on the residential sector. The non-residential side is growing by more than 1.5% in Europe but it has started to following the residential sector. It also noted the ‘very poor’ performance of the infrastructure sector due to government under-investment.

Graph 1: GDP vs Construction Output, year-on-year change (%). Source: Euroconstruct & CECE.

The construction equipment sector saw sales rise by 11% in 2018, bringing it to only 10% below the high recorded in 2007. The CECE reported that the rate of growth for concrete equipment was becoming ‘less dynamic’ after four years of growth. Sales in Europe grew by 17% in 2018 but there was a wide difference between northern and southern countries. France and Germany had 9% and 14% growth respectively but Italy and Spain had 23% and 60% growth respectively. Looking at product groups, truck mixer sales and batching plant sales were particularly strong, with growth rates over 10%. Overall, most countries experienced growth, with the exception of Turkey.

Graph 2: Growth rates in construction equipment sales by product groups in Europe, year-on-year change (%). Source: CECE.

Looking globally, the CECE said that Europe ‘slightly underperformed’ in 2018 as worldwide equipment sales grew by a fifth. It attributed this to the return of emerging markets, led by China and India. Sales in Latin America recovered with a rise of 15% but Brazil, notably, was not part of this trend. North America and Oceania had growth rates of around 20% but the Middle East and Africa saw declining sales. The CECE forecasts global equipment sales growth of 5 – 10% in 2019 subject to there being no trade wars.

Tying into this, the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA) said today that Sebastian Popp, its Deputy Managing Director, described cement plant equipment manufacturers as a ‘drag’ on the rest of the building materials plant sector. His words were from an event that took place earlier in March 2019. Overall incoming order and turnover fell in 2018. He blamed this on a cement market characterised by overcapacity. However, if cement plant engineering was removed from the calculations then the incoming orders of German building material plant manufacturers would have risen by 17% year-on-year and turnover by 16%.

None of this is encouraging for the European cement equipment manufacturers. However, as we said in February 2019 (GCW 390), the market is changing and so too are the suppliers. A period of transition is to be expected. Recent good news from Denmark’s FLSmidth include an order for a new plant in Paraguay and sales figures for its vertical roller mills in 2018. Russia’s Eurocement ordered three mills from Germany’s Gebr. Pfeiffer just last week.

France: Eric Olsen, the former human resources chief of Lafarge says that charges of financing a terrorist organisation by have been dropped against him. French prosecutors have been investigating Lafarge’s conduct in Syria, according to the Agence France Presse. In late 2017 Olsen and two other former executives were charged with ‘financing a terrorist organisation’ and ‘endangering the lives of others’. The second charge still stands against Olsen although he is reportedly challenging it.

The investigation is attempting to determine whether LafargeHolcim’s predecessor company Lafarge Syria paid terrorist groups in Syria during its civil war and how much managers knew about the situation.