Displaying items by tag: GCW203

Europe: Following the clearance from the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) on 28 May 2015, Holcim launched the public exchange offer for all Lafarge shares at an exchange ratio of 9 Holcim shares for 10 Lafarge shares on 1 June 2015. Through acceptance of the public exchange offer, Lafarge shareholders will pave the way for the creation of LafargeHolcim.

The public exchange offer will be open for 25 trading days until 3 July 2015. With this public exchange offer, Lafarge and Holcim are implementing the final step of their project to merge the two companies. The merger is expected to close in July 2015.

India: Ramco Cements has reported that its quarterly profits rose by 274% to US$14.6m due to better cost management and stable cement prices. Revenues grew marginally by 1.2% to US$156m. The company sold 1.88Mt of cement during the fourth quarter of 2015, down from 2.25Mt in the same quarter of the previous financial year.

For the fiscal year that ended on 31 March 2015, Ramco Cements achieved a profit of US$37.9m, a rise of 76% and a revenue of US$584m. It sold 7.67Mt of cement compared to 8.59Mt in the previous financial year.

"Our ability to manage costs and stable cement prices helped us in better financial performance," said A V Darmakrishnan, managing director and CEO of Ramco Cements. Forecasting demand for the current fiscal year, he said, "We are cautious and will wait."

Operating costs decreased because of cost reduction initiatives and falling fuel prices. However the reduction in costs was offset by an increase in royalty on limestone from US$0.986/t to US$1.25/t with effect from 1 September 2014.

Ramco Cements installed a new 0.95Mt/yr grinding plant in Gobburpalam Village, Vishakapatnam and commissioned it in March 2015.

Kenya: An unnamed company filed with the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) to build a new grinding plant in western Kenya on a 202,343m² piece of land. It is projected to produce 730,000t/yr of cement.

"The plant will increase cement production in Kenya by 2000t/day. With the exception of clinker that will be imported into the country, all the other raw materials will be mined locally," said the unnamed company in its filling with Nema.

Philippines: Eagle Cement plans to build its production capacity with an investment of US$1.2bn. Owner Ramon S Ang revealed to local media that he intends to build two new 2Mt/yr cement plants at Cebu and Davao in 2015. In addition the company is also adding one more line with a 2Mt/yr production capacity to its existing cement facility in San Ildefonso, Bulacan.

"We are now finishing the second line and preparing to put up a third line. With the third Eagle line, it will be even bigger than the asset being sold by Lafarge," said Ang. Upon completion of the third line, the Bulacan plant will have a production capacity of 6Mt/yr. According to Ang, each cement line with a 2Mt/yr capacity costs US$400m.

Eagle Cement produces and distributes cement under the brands Eagle Cement Advance and Eagle Cement Strongcem.

San Miguel Corp, the Manilla based multinational for which Ang serves as president, formally entered the cement business in 2013 when it paid US$78.6m for a 35% stake in Northern Cement. The cement company with a production facility in Pangasinan has a capacity of 2Mt/yr.

Pakistan: The Pakistan government is working on two options to challenge South African anti-dumping duties on Pakistani exports of cement. The first step will be to hold bilateral consultations with the South African government to resolve the anti-dumping duties favourably. Failing that, then the Pakistan government has the option to take the issue to the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO), according to an official from the Pakistan National Tariff Commission (NTC).

The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) imposed provisional anti-dumping duties of 14.3 – 77.2% on Portland Cement originating in or imported from Pakistan from 15 May 2015 for six months. The duty was imposed on bagged cement.

According to local media, Lucky Cement, the major supplier to South Africa with a 55% market share, seems to have had sales volumes little affected by the anit-dumping measure due to its low duty. However, Attock Pakistan, the second largest supplier with a 35% market share, has been the worst hit due to its high anti-dumping duty. Pakistani cement exporters are exploring other markets in southern Africa.

Turkey: Votorantim Cimentos has announced a Euro140m investment in the expansion of its cement plant in Sivas, Turkey. The investment is the largest carried out in Sivas' history and will increase the plant's current production capacity by three times, from 0.6Mt/yr to 1.8Mt/yr.

The investment will allow Votorantim Cimentos, which currently operates in the country at full capacity, to increase its market share in Turkey. The Sivas plant currently accounts for about 19% of Votorantim Cimentos' 3Mt/yr production capacity in Turkey. After the expansion, it will account for 42% of the company's total production capacity in the country.

"Votorantim Cimentos sees the potential of Turkey's construction sector and this investment shows our commitment to reinforcing our presence in Turkey. Sivas' expansion will bring a crucial dynamism and competitiveness to the company in the Turkish cement market," said Mustafa Şefik Tüzün, CEO of Votorantim Cimentos in Turkey.

Groundbreaking at the plant will take place in June 2015 and construction work will employ around 700 people. Cement production will begin in 2017. The plant will supply the market with CEM I and CEM II, the most in-demand products in the Turkish cement market.

Votorantim Cimentos recently announced a Euro1.61bn investment package for 2015 - 2018. The company will invest in five new plants in Brazil, one in Bolivia, as well as in the expansion and modernisation of existing units, such as the one in Sivas.

Egypt: Lafarge Industrial Ecology (Ecocem) has signed two major contracts to manage and operate existing refuse-derived fuel (RDF) platforms in Suez and Qalyubeya in Egypt.

In an effort to continue its efficient waste management processes, the company has signed a year agreement to renovate and upgrade the platforms in Suez and another separate 10-year agreement to manage and operate the existing platforms in Qalyubeya. Lafarge Ecocem has already added a new production line to the Suez platform and plans an additional line within one year of signing its contract with the governorate. The plant will produce 42,000t/yr of RDF and the investment will total US$1.66m.

Ecocem has also already added an extra line to the Qalyubea plant, in addition to renovating one production line. The company's future investments in the governorate will increase the RDF production capacity by 32,000t/yr to 280,000t/yr. Both investments at the Qalyubeya plant were funded by GIZ and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with a total Investment of US$1m.

"In line with our 'Building Egypt 2030' campaign, Lafarge is committed to help solve the issue of waste in Egypt and to continue taking the necessary steps towards sustainable development," said Hussein Mansi, CEO of Lafarge Egypt. "At Lafarge Egypt, we feel it is our responsibility as a leader in building solutions to be the major proponents in waste management and plan to continue finding many opportunities to make a difference."

Building on its waste management strategy, Lafarge Ecocem is committing to several additional long-term contracts with different governorates to help convert municipal solid wastes to alternative fuels. In addition, in March 2015, Lafarge Egypt and Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding S A E signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a waste management framework of municipal and agricultural waste.

Lafarge Egypt and Ecocem have implemented many projects over the past three years in order to increase the use of alternative fuels and aim to achieve an average fuel substitution rate of 25% by the end of 2015. More than 260,000t of waste have been processed and fired in Lafarge's Sokhna plant since 2013, an equivalent of 100,000t of fossil fuels.

Ghana: The Ghana Cement Manufacturers Association (GCMA), which comprises Ghacem Ltd, Diamond Cement Company Ltd and Savannah Diamond Company Ltd, has appealed to the Ministry of Finance to urgently commence investigation into what it described as the tax liabilities of certain importers of bagged cement into the country.

In a letter dated 26 May 2015 and addressed to the director of taxes at the Finance Ministry, the GCMA said that it had gathered that two importers, SOL Ghana Ltd and Fujiman Sentuo, had allegedly declared cost, insurance, freight (CIF) values of about US$27/t and US$30/t respectively. The letter, jointly signed by George Dawson-Ahmoah, chairman and N Venketash, vice chairman / secretary, stated, 'The alleged values to us as seasoned manufacturers in the cement industry are unbelievable and call for the attention of the tax authorities. Such values, when confirmed, are under-valued leading to huge financial loss to the nation."

India: Anjani Portland Cement has reported a net profit of US$2.48m in the quarter that ended on 31 March 2015 compared to a net loss of US$2.21m during the same quarter of 2015. Sales rose by 12.3% year-on-year to US$12.9m.

For the full year that ended on 31 March 2015, its net profit was US$2.62m compared to a net loss of US$3.04m during the previous year. Sales declined by 6.25% to US$4.06m in the 2015 financial year.

Estonia: HeidelbergCement's Kunda Nordic Tsement has reduced its output and made 30 employees redundant, citing a decline in clinker exports to Russia. CEO Meelis Einstein said that the need to cut expenditures has had a negative impact on suppliers of support services to Kunda Nordic Tsement.