Displaying items by tag: HeidelbergCement
Germany: HeidelbergCement’s CO2 reduction targets to 2030 have been successfully assessed against the Science Based Targets initiative’s (SBTi) criteria. It says this makes it the first company in the cement sector to have approved science-based targets.
"Our goal is to realise the vision of CO2-neutral concrete by 2050 at the latest. In the coming years, we want to make significant progress in this direction, and the SBTi’s approval is a clear proof of our strong commitment," said Bernd Scheifele, the chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. The group’s CO2 reduction strategy is based on measures on plant and product level. These include improving energy efficiency, and a steadily increasing use of alternative fuels and alternative raw materials.
HeidelbergCement’s SBTi target is to reduce scope 1 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 15% per ton of cementitious materials by 2030 from a 2016 base year. HeidelbergCement also commits to reduce scope 2 GHG emissions 65% per ton of cementitious materials within the same timeframe. The SBTi target is consistent with HeidelbergCement’s previous goal of a 30% reduction in its specific net CO2 emissions by 2030, compared with 1990. The cement and concrete producer has achieved a reduction of 20% so far.
The SBTi assesses and validates corporate emissions reduction targets against climate science research. Targets adopted by companies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are considered ‘science-based’ if they are in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement – to limit global warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.
Belgium: The Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) consortium partners and its external advisory board have held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its pilot Direct Separation Calciner unit at the HeidelbergCement cement plant in Lixhe. The project started commissioning the unit in March 2019. Testing is now set to start to validate the performance of the pilot.
Germany: Better weather in Europe and North America has benefitted HeidelbergCement’s first quarter results. Its sales revenue rose by 16.9% year-on-year to Euro4.24bn in the first quarter of 2019 from Euro3.63bn in the same period in 2018. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 58.6% to Euro396m from Euro250m. Cement sales volumes increased by 1.6% to 28.6Mt from 28.1Mt. Ready-mixed concrete sales volumes increased by 10.8% to 11.3Mm3 from 10.2Mm3.
“We have achieved a considerable increase in revenue and result from current operations in comparison with the same quarter of the previous year. In addition to improved weather conditions, sustained strong demand and successful price increases contributed towards this positive development,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement.
The group’s Asia-Pacific region reported ‘sluggish’ sales in India and Thailand. Its cement and clinker sales fell by 1.7% to 9Mt although it managed to increase its revenue through price rises. Cement and clinker sales volumes also fell in its Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin region due to increased competition in Egypt.
Hanson ships bagged cement to Antarctica
09 May 2019Antarctica/UK: Hanson has transported 125t of bagged cement from its Ketton plant in the UK to the British Antarctic Survey’s Rothera Research Station in Antarctica. Construction company BAM Nuttall is upgrading a wharf at the site to improve ship and boating operations and allow it to accommodate the RRS Sir David Attenborough as well as to reduce manual handling cargo loading/unloading time.
The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement worked with BAM Nuttall and civil engineering company Keyline to set the technical specification of the cement. Each of the 25kg bags were vacuum sealed and double shrink wrapped onto heat-treated pallets to reduce the risk of contaminating Antarctica’s environment with foreign organisms.
Romania: The Competition Council says it has found irregularities in the cement market. Following an investigation started in the autumn of 2018 it has revealed that the country’s three major producers – Holcim, CRH and HeidelbergCement – were operating with high profit margins and similar market share, according to Business News Europe. It noted that geographic distribution of customers around the three companies’ production facilities might support a hypothesis of market collusion. It also reported similar production capacity utilisation rates between the main producers despite different production capacities.
The Competition Council has not drawn any conclusions from the report. Previously, it said that if it does find any evidence of cartel-like behaviour it could apply a fine of up to 10% of company turnover.
Ciments Calcia fined Euro0.67m for late payments
07 May 2019France: 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.
Indonesia: Indocement’s revenue grew by 8.5% year-on-year to US$262m in the first three months of 2019 from US$242m in the same period in 2018. Its net income rose by 50% to US$27.9m from US$18.6m.
Update on Italy - 2019
10 April 2019More movement in Italy this week with Buzzi Unicem’s purchase of three cement plants from HeidelbergCement. Buzzi acquired the Testi integrated cement plant at Greve and the Borgo San Dalmazzo and Arquata Scrivia grinding plants in Piedmont. No value for the transaction was disclosed but HeidelbergCement trumpeted that it was ‘well on our way’ to reach its target of Euro1.5bn of disposals by the end of 2020. This follows last week’s purchase of Cemitaly's Spoleto cement plant in Perugia by Colacem. Cemitaly, in case readers don’t know, is another of HeidelbergCement’s Italian subsidiaries.
Upon completion of these deals, Buzzi Unicem will own 10 integrated plants and five grinding plants in Italy. It continues the company’s consolidation drive in Italy from mid-2017 when it bought Cementizillo and two of its integrated plants for the knock down price of up to Euro125m.
The two other leading cement producers are now Germany’s HeidelbergCement with its local subsidiaries (led by Italcementi) and Colacem. HeidelbergCement has 10 integrated plants and 10 grinding plant. Colacem has seven integrated plants and one grinding plant. All three companies have integrated production capacities of around 9 – 14Mt/yr. Since 2012 the market has shifted from six major producers to three. Sacci, Cementir and Cemenzillo have left the field following acquisitions by their competitors. Italcementi was taken over by HeidelbergCement in 2016.
Graph 1: Cement production in Italy, 2006 – 2017. Source: Italian Cement Association (AITEC).
Data from the Italian Cement Association (AITEC) shows that the impetus for this consolidation trend was the reduction in Italian cement production to 19.3Mt in 2017 from a high of 47.9Mt in 2006. Despite this though the country still has a total production capacity of 37.7Mt/yr, according to Global Cement Directory 2019 data, giving it an utilisation rate of just over 50%. Production picked up again in the north and central regions of Italy in 2017 but this was insufficient to counter declines in the south and Italy’s islands. Exports have held steady in this time at around 2 – 3Mt/yr but this represents a doubling share of production from 5% in 2006 to 10% in 2017. Production has been steadily dwindling year-on-year since 2006 but domestic consumption rallied a little to 18.7Mt in 2017.
The Italian government instituted its ‘Industry 4.0’ policy in early 2017 to boost competitiveness. This included modest growth forecasts of 1%. International Monetary Fund (IMF) data shows that the country managed gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 0.9% in 2018. Yet, Buzzi Unicem reported like-for-like net sales contraction of 0.9% in 2018. HeidelbergCement was more circumspect in its reporting on Italy for 2018 but it did describe a ‘moderate’ increase in sales volumes of cement excluding its acquisitions.
With the IMF diagnosing the Italian economy as ‘weak’ and cutting its growth forecast to 0.1% in 2019 the prospects aren’t looking encouraging for the cement sector. AITEC data placed cement consumption at 309t/capita in 2017. This is on the low side for Western European standards suggesting that, although more consolidation could be coming, the market may also be down too. Its not great news for cement producers but the Italian market is edging ever closer to recovery.
Ali Emir Adıgüzel resigns as head of HC Trading
08 April 2019Germany: Ali Emir Adıgüzel has resigned as the chief executive officer (CEO) of HeidelbergCement trading subsidiary HC Trading. He will be succeeded by Hakan Gurdal, a member of HeidelbergCement’s management board.
In a statement on LinkedIn Adıgüzelthanked HeidelbergCement’s chairman Bernd Scheifele for his support over the last 15 years. He added that it was, normal to have differences of opinion regarding the performance evaluation, strategy and future steps in companies.
Born in Turkey, the 58-year old Adıgüzel graduated from Harvard Business School in the US and the Boğaziçi University Business Administration Department in Turkey. He started his career working in Saudi Arabia and has been the general manager of HC Trading since 1996. He became Trade Chairman for the Mediterranean, Middle East and International regions, which include Turkey in 2004 and was appointed CEO in 2016.
Indocement preparing for lower growth in 2019
10 April 2019Indonesia: Indocement is aiming for 4% growth in sales year-on-year to around US$1.12bn in 2019 due to sluggish cement consumption. This compares to 5% growth in revenue in 2018. The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement expects demand to increase in the second half of 2019 following elections, according to the Jakarta Post newspaper. It predicts that cement consumption will be driven by government infrastructure projects and the construction of residential projects and buildings. It plans to spend up to US$70m towards setting up a quarry in West Java and completing new cement terminals.
The cement producer is also preparing to increase its thermal substitution rate with alternative fuels like refuse-derived fuel (RDF). This follows a 50% rise in production costs due to coal in 2018. In September 2018 to agreed to buy 500t of RDF from the West Java government.