Displaying items by tag: Hanson

UK: Hanson is considering spending around Euro23m on building a new clinker mill and other improvements at its Padeswood Cement plant. At present the site use four mills that are only able to grind about 40% of the kiln’s output, according to the Daily Post. A second phase of the upgrade project, dependent on production levels being increased, is planned to rebuild a railway link to the plant.

UK: Fairport Engineering has reported work on its replacement of two electrostatic (ESP) filters at Hanson’s Ketton cement plant in Rutland. Following discussion in early 2016 Fairport was contracted to replace ESP filters at the plants Mills 9 and 10. Both mills were shut down for planned three-week periods each to remove the old filters and install the new ones. The new system on Mill 9 also required the installation of new screw conveyors, rotary airlocks and the reconfiguration of existing control panels, plus the installation of new 160KW central exhaust fans and associated clean gas ducting. Fairport reports that, to date, the daily averages on both filters are well below the target emission level.

UK: Greenbank has supplied a GWF feeder system to Hanson Cement’s Padeswood plant in Flintshire. The system is designed to feed raw materials into the processing plant at a predetermined rate. The upgrade is part of a recent series of expansions.

“The constant and reliable feed rate of the GWF feeder is achieved by having a shear gate to set a constant material bed depth for the given particle size combined with an inverter drive to control the feeder belt speed,” said Rod Molyneux, Product Sales Engineer at Greenbank.

Greenbank Group has previously supplied the plant with wear-resistant pipework and a pipe system for a new shredded refuse fuel line into a processing kiln.

UK: Hanson is spending Euro29m on upgrades at its Ribblesdale cement plant in a seven-year project to improve production efficiency and emissions. In the first six months nearly Euro13m will be spent on improvements and maintenance to enable the plant to meet new dust emission regulations. This is the biggest investment programme at the site since the 1990s and includes a Euro2m replacement of the filters on two cement mills.

“The permitted dust level is being reduced by 66% in April 2017, from 30mg/m² to 10 - the new equipment will perform better than this,” said plant manager Terry Reynolds. He added that the filters will run well below the new maximum dust emission levels after the installation

The plant will spend Euro7.5m, its largest investment, towards replacing its wet gas scrubber in March 2017. In addition, 75m of ducts have been replaced at a cost of Euro440,000 during a shutdown in January 2017 as part of a five-year improvement plan for the site’s exhaust gas handling system.

Ribblesdale employs 116 people and is supplied by two on-site quarries worked by an 11-person team and a team of contractors managing the loading and hauling of quarry materials. The cement plant has produced cement for projects including the Manchester International Airport, Heysham nuclear power station, Manchester United football stadium, Liverpool’s Roman Catholic cathedral and also now for Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.

UK: Hanson UK's CEO Patrick O'Shea will step down in December 2015 after eight years at the head of the construction materials business. He will be succeeded by Daniel Cooper, who is currently Northern Regional General Manager for Hanson Australia.

O'Shea joined Hanson plc in 1990 and held a variety of senior financial and operational roles before becoming Chief Executive of Hanson Pacific in 2001. In 2003 he added responsibility for continental Europe to this role, becoming Chief Executive of Hanson Continental Europe and Asia. He was appointed Managing Director of Hanson Aggregates UK in June 2004. When Hanson plc was acquired by HeidelbergCement in 2007, O'Shea was appointed CEO of the combined UK business, which brought together Hanson's aggregates and building products operations with HeidelbergCement's Castle Cement business, to form Hanson UK.
His tenure encompassed the longest and toughest recession ever experienced in the construction industry.

"It's not been easy, but I have enjoyed the challenge of leading the company through this difficult period and into a position where I believe we are well placed to take advantage of the opportunities which lie ahead,' said O'Shea. "I am confident that the company has a bright future and I look forward to watching it prosper and grow."

Daniel Cooper joined Pioneer Concrete in Australia in 1993. Hanson acquired Pioneer in 2000 and Cooper has held a number of operational, commercial and customer service management roles, including Regional General Manager for Western Australia.

UK: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has welcomed the sale of plants by Lafarge Tarmac and Hanson.

In the Competition Commission's (CC) market investigation published in January 2014, the CC had ordered Lafarge Tarmac to sell one of two cement plants and Hanson to sell one of its ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) plants to enhance competition in the cement and GGBS markets in the UK. Lafarge Tarmac appealed the CC's decision to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. However, in December 2014, the European Commission cleared the merger between Lafarge and Holcim, provided it divest certain assets to a new market entrant. In accordance with those commitments, the Lafarge Tarmac business in the UK, with the exception of the Cauldon cement plant, was sold to CRH and the legal challenges brought by Lafarge Tarmac to the CC have been withdrawn.

In addition, Hanson completed the sale of its GGBS plant in Scunthorpe, as required by the CC's report, to Francis Flower on 31 July 2015. This news means that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has completed the divestment remedies arising from the CC's report.

UK: Mineral resources company Francis Flower has announced the acquisition of the Scunthorpe ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) plant from Hanson Cement.

The business is capable of producing more than 500,000t/yr of GGBS and supplies customers in the Midlands and north of England. GGBS complements Francis Flower's existing range of high quality powdered minerals, which originate as by-products from various industries. This reduces the need for mineral extraction and landfill, delivering sustainable environmental solutions for its customers. The acquisition reflects both Francis Flower's commitment to developing its range of products and services in this sector and the credibility it has for making the most of mineral resources.

"We are absolutely delighted and very excited to announce this new acquisition. GGBS is an excellent fit to our existing product range and will help further our longstanding relationships in this sector," said Adrian Willmott, Chairman and CEO of Francis Flower. "We have a proven track record of making the most of mineral resources, reducing the need for mineral extraction as well as landfill and delivering sustainable solutions for our customers. We are very much looking forward to working with the team in Scunthorpe and developing the opportunities in the GGBS market as the UK construction sector continues to grow."

The end of 2014 proved a good time to tidy up outstanding business for various organisations with links to the cement industry. Lafarge and Holcim received clearance from the European Commission for their proposed merger and they announced their executive committee, Holcim and Cemex concluded their transactions in Europe, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced regulations for coal ash, HeidelbergCement found a buyer for its Hanson Building Products business and even PPC managed to appoint a new CEO.

The HeidelbergCement sale is of interest because the company has said it is using the proceeds to pay off debt rather than to make purchases. CEO Bernd Scheifele said in the press release that the intention was to improve the company's 'credit-worthiness.' This isn't directly related to the cement industry because Hanson Building Products produces concrete gravity pipe, concrete and steel pressure pipe and clay bricks in the US, UK and eastern Canada. Yet the potential cash bonanza is relevant. Remember, this is happening at the same time that Lafarge and Holcim have been offloading lots of their own assets to meet competition regulations in various territories.

When the initial public offering was made for Hanson Building Products in September 2014, analysts assumed that HeidelbergCement was positioning itself for a spending spree. The purchase price for Hanson Building Products agreed with a private equity firm was US$1.4bn. This could be used to buy five 1 Mt/yr cement plants at an average price of US$250/t for cement production capacity!

Unfortunately for HeidelbergCement its net debt rose from Euro7bn in 2012 to Euro7.5bn in 2013. This was the first time it had risen since 2007 when it hit a peak of Euro14.6bn. That year was when it agreed to purchase Hanson. It also marked the start of the 2007 – 2008 financial crisis. Similarly, ratios such as net debt to operating income before depreciation (OIBD) also rose in 2013. Although it looks from interim financial reports that HeidelbergCement's debt may have decreased again in 2014, it is probably not doing so at any great speed. Hence the Hanson Building Products sale.

For comparison with debt held by the other European-based cement producers, Lafarge's net debt stood at Euro10.3bn at the end of 2013, Holcim's net debt was Euro7.9bn, Italcementi's net debt was Euro1.9bn and Mexico-based Cemex's net debt was Euro14.8bn. Compared to most of these their operating incomes these company's have net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) ratios (net debt/EBITDA) of between two and three-and-a half suggesting that they can pay back their debts within a few years if absolutely necessary. The outlier here is Cemex with a ratio of over six following previous acquisition bursts.

The implication here is that Lafarge and Holcim have chosen to sell their wares at a time when their European competitors are weakened. Meanwhile their Chinese competitors have only just started to directly expand outside of mainland China. Smart move.

US/UK: HeidelbergCement has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with an American affiliate of Lone Star Funds to sell its North American and UK building products business for an aggregate purchase price of US$1.4bn. HeidelbergCement said that up to US$100m will be payable in 2016, depending on the performance of the business in 2015. The deal excludes HeidelbergCement's Western Canada business. HeidelbergCement expects the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2015.

The sale of Hanson Building Products is consistent with HeidelbergCement's strategy of focusing on processing and refining raw materials for its core products of cement and aggregates and further downstream activities, according to a HeidelbergCement spokesperson. HeidelbergCement will retain its Hanson units in the cement, crushed stone, sand and asphalt businesses in the UK.

UK/US: Hanson Building Products Ltd, which is owned by HeidelbergCement AG, filed with US regulators for an initial public offering of ordinary shares. BofA Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank Securities are underwriting the IPO, Hanson told the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus on 15 September 2014.

HeidelbergCement agreed to buy Hanson plc, which includes Hanson Building, for Euro10Bn in 2007 to create the world's second-largest construction materials company. Hanson Building produces concrete gravity pipe, concrete and steel pressure pipe and clay bricks in the US, eastern Canada and the UK. However, HeidelbergCement has been aiming to offload its US and UK building products business in 2014 to have the best chance of buying cement assets that Lafarge and Holcim must sell when they merge, according to Reuters.

Hanson Building's filing included a nominal fundraising target of about Euro77.3m. The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price. Hanson Building intends to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange but did not specify the symbol. HeidelbergCement, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the German cement manufacturer, is selling all the shares in the offering and Hanson Building will not receive any of the proceeds.

Hanson Building reported net income of Euro11.5m for the first six months of 2014, compared with a loss of Euro195m during the same period of 2013. Net sales, however, dropped by 47% year-on-year to Euro462m.