Displaying items by tag: GCW216

Ireland: CRH CEO Albert Manifold has said that the company will now take a pause from large-scale acquisitions following the completion of its US$7.3bn acquisition of various Lafarge and Holcim assets and its recent US$1.3bn acquisition of glazing products producer C R Laurence. Manifold was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that significant acquisitions going forward are 'unlikely,' and that the company will focus on integrating its two big acquisitions over the next 12 - 18 months.

CRH had previously been linked with two other large-scale cement industry acquisitions. In India, it was in the running to acquire 5Mt/yr of Lafarge assets that have since been sold to Birla Group. Meanwhile, in South Korea CRH had been linked with the wholesale acquisition of Tongyang Cement & Energy. Due to Manifold's announcement, it appears that the South Korean deal is no longer on the table.

Kenya: Bamburi Cement has reported a 94% jump in its pre-tax profit for the first half of 2015 to US$43m compared to the first half of 2014. Turnover grew to US$186m from US$166m, as governments and others continued to invest in infrastructure projects.

The company attributed the strong performance to growth in demand in its two main markets of Uganda and Kenya, cost cutting and gains in its US-Dollar-based liquid assets due to a steep weakening of the Ugandan and Kenyan currencies. Exports to other African markets were also strong.

"The outlook for the rest of 2015 is stable, with projected and continued positive growth in all regional East African economies," said Bamburi in a statement.

Pakistan: Cherat Cement Company posted a profit of US$12.4m in the year ending 30 June 2015, a slight decrease from US$12.7m a year earlier. Turnover rose to US$63.2m compared to US$62.1m a year ago.

Colombia: In the first half of 2015, Cementos Argos recorded revenues of US$1.09bn, 26% more than in the same period in 2014. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were US$210m, 31% higher than during the first half of 2014.The company sold 14% more cement in the first half of 2014 compared to the first half of 2014, with sales rising to 6.8Mt.

Jorge Mario Velásquez, Cementos Argos' CEO, said, "The consolidated results of the first half of the year show the good individual performance of our business segments and of our growth and market diversification strategy. Thanks to this, Argos is now recording more than 60% of its revenues in US Dollars or currencies closely tied to the US Dollar, which is a situation that puts us in a privileged position given the current circumstances."

In Colombia, Cementos Argos obtained revenues of US$403m, 13% more than in the first half of 2014. During the quarter, the expansion of the Rioclaro Plant became operational, adding 0.9Mt of installed capacity. Its EBITDA in the country was US$91m, which was an improvement of 15% year-on-year.

In the United States an increase in government expenditure, the increase in construction licenses and the highest housing construction levels seen in the last seven years all contributed to an EBITDA of US$49m in the first half, an 89% rise compared to the same period last year.

Ireland: CRH has reported improved results for the first half of 2015. It reported that sales increased by 13% year-on-year to Euro9.4bn over its global operations. Although sales fell by 1% in Europe, they rose by 32% in the Americas. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) from continuing operations were up by 29% globally, by 4% in Europe and by 57% in the Americas. CRH's profit before tax was Euro63m, a 3% improvement on its Euro61m pre-tax profit it made in the first half of 2014.

CRH reported that the acquisition of assets from Lafarge and Holcim were now fully integrated into CRH. It has also announced a further Euro1.15bn acquisition of US-based glass manufacturer C R Lawrence.

"We are on track to deliver another year of growth in 2015," said Albert Manifold, CEO of CRH. "Trading in the Americas has been good and, against a mixed macro-economic backdrop, underlying trading in Europe is broadly in line. We have made good progress towards achieving our goal of restoring margins and returns to peak over the cycle, with further margin improvement in each operating division. We are now applying CRH rigour to (our) new businesses to integrate them efficiently and to drive performance."

Pakistan/Iran: The Pakistani cement industry has once again spoken out against imported cement from Iran and alleged massive under-invoicing across the border. Industry sources said that the Iranian cement, which was earlier being smuggled, is now entering Pakistan at very low rates due to under-invoicing. They say that importing cement into Pakistan, itself a cement exporter is 'incomprehensible.'

Taha Khan Javed, Elixir Securities Pakistan's head of research, said that the government needs to realise that this lax attitude towards under-invoicing and the 'rampant' import of Iranian cement is hurting both the government and the local cement industry. Pakistan already has surplus capacity and its exports are falling due to a slowdown in exports to Afghanistan and other regions. In the case of Afghanistan this is also, in part, due to Iranian imports.

Australia: Boral has recorded an increase in full-year profit, buoyed by the return to profitability of its US business for the first time since 2007, a pick-up in local demand and cost-cutting initiatives.

Australia's largest building materials provider posted a net profit of US$183m in the year to 30 June 2015, a 48.3% increase on the previous year's US$123m. Underlying profit rose by 45% to US$178m. However, Boral's total revenue over the same period fell by 15.2% to US$3.15bn.

Boral chief executive Mike Kane said that the results reflected the benefits from the company's overhaul of its business which reduced the size of its workforce and resulted in the closure of some unprofitable operations. "We've improved Boral's cost base, strengthened the balance sheet and we are managing our portfolio of businesses more efficiently," he said.

In the current 2016 fiscal year, Boral said it will focus on maintaining underlying earnings from construction, materials and cement, while property earnings remain uncertain. Building products are seen remaining broadly steady, while USGBoral will deliver further underlying improvement.

Cameroon: Dangote Cement will open its new 1.5Mt/yr Sinoma-built cement plant in Douala, Cameroon today. "Africa's future growth is intrinsically linked to cement," said Aliko Dangote earlier in August 2015, as he opened another new factory on the outskirts of Ndola, Zambia. Both plants are part of Dangote Cement's US$4.3bn expansion across Africa and Asia, which we reported on earlier.