Displaying items by tag: GCW291

Kenya: ARM Cement plans to increase its grinding capacity by 50% at its 1Mt/yr cement plant at Athi River. Pradeep Paunrana, the managing director of ARM Cement, made the comments in an interview reported on by Reuters. The new grinding capacity will use clinker from the company’s plant at Tanga in Tanzania. The upgrade plans follow an equity deal in late 2016 with the CDC Group to secure US$140m in funding. However, most of this money has been used to pay off debts.

Paunrana noted that cement demand in the East African region is expected to rise at 8 – 10%/yr. The cement producer is preparing to build a new cement plant at Kitui in Kenya but it wants to increase its capacity utilisation rate from its plant in Tanzania first.

Oman: Oman Cement’s profit has risen by 10% year-on-year to US$33.4m in 2016 from US$30.4m in 2015. Its sales revenue grew by 8.5% to US$147m from US$135m and its sales volumes of cement grew by 10.6% to 2.30Mt from 2.01Mt, according to the Muscat Daily newspaper. It attributed the increased profit to higher turnover and higher investment income. However, its operational costs rose due to a shutdown of its kiln for a longer period than expected.

US: Summit Materials cement business’ sales revenue rose by 49% year-on-year to US$250m in 2016 from US$168m in 2015. Its sales volumes of cement grew by 37% to 2.36Mt from 1.72Mt. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 51% to US$113m from US$74.8m. It attributed the improvement to higher prices, cost reductions production efficiencies and increased sales volumes due to the acquisition of the Davenport cement assets in July 2015

“Our cement business represents a clear catalyst for growth heading into 2017,” said Tom Hill, chief executive officer of Summit Materials. “Limited domestic production capacity and continued growth in US demand have combined to create opportunities for sustained growth in industry industry pricing. During the fourth quarter, our cement segment generated organic price and volume growth of 6.8% and nearly 1%, respectively. Looking ahead to the remainder of 2017, we anticipate continued adjusted EBITDA growth in our cement business, as supported by sustained growth in organic cement prices and sales volumes along the Mississippi River corridor.”

Mexico: Elementia’s cement division’s sales revenue in Mexico rose by 30% year-on-year to US$155m in 2016 from US$119m in 2015. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 39% to US$65.9m from US$47.3m. It attributed the result to increased prices and a higher capacity utilisation rate.

The cement producer noted that its 1.5Mt/yr upgrade to its Tula cement plant is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2017. The company also competed its acquisition of a 55% stake in US company Giant in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Kenya: East African Portland Cement’s sales revenue fell by 19% year-on-year to US$35.9m in 2016 from US$44.6m in 2015. It made a loss of US$5.15m compared to a loss of US$7.19m in 2015, according to Reuters. It said that sales volumes had fallen by 17% in 2016 due to a ‘change in the competitive landscape’ and that this had caused the fall in revenue. However, it added that it had cut its administrative expenses by 9% due to on-going cost management initiatives. Looking forward the company said that, as it expected cement supply to be higher than demand in the near term, it would focus on cutting costs.