Displaying items by tag: HeidelbergCement
HeidelbergCement reports 8% year-on-year revenue rise
07 February 2013Germany: The German multinational cement giant HeidelbergCement has announced preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter of 2012 and for the full year. In the fourth quarter it saw its revenue rise by 6.5% year-on-year to Euro3.5bn, its operating income before depreciation increased by 8.2% to Euro691m.
Over the whole of 2012 the group saw its revenue increase by 8.7% relative to 2011, rising to Euro14bn. Its operating income rose by 9.5% to Euro1.61bn. HeidelbergCement reported that it owed improvements in its cement margins to its cash-saving 'FOX 2013' programme, which saved outgoings of Euro384m.
The improvements reflect the continuing positive development in HeidelbergCement's growth markets and the ongoing recovery in North America. Sales volumes and result declined in Europe, mainly as a result of government budget constraints in some countries, which led to significant reductions in infrastructure spending.
"We are pleased that we achieved our goal of increasing revenue and operating income despite the negative impact of the Euro crisis on many countries in Europe," said Dr Bernd Scheifele, CEO of HeidelbergCement. "Once again we could reap the benefit from our advantageous geographical positioning in growth markets and the successful continuation of our programmes for efficiency and margin improvement. The margins in the core businesses cement and aggregates continued to increase. The strong development in our markets in Asia, Africa and North America contributed to the positive margin development."
In western and northern Europe the business development was not supported by mild weather at the beginning and the end of the year, which had been the case in 2011. Nevertheless, demand for construction materials remained stable in HeidelbergCement's native Germany and northern Europe, driven by positive economic development. In contrast, construction activity in the UK and the Netherlands weakened noticeably, mainly as a result of lower infrastructure spending in the UK due to budget consolidation and the decline in residential construction in the Netherlands following the end of housing subsidy programmes. Revenues here were Euro4.2bn, a decrease of 2.7% over 2011. Cement, clinker and ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) sales came to 21.3Mt, a 3.9% decrease compared to 2011.
The development in the group's Eastern Europe-Central Asia region was divided. While cement sales volumes and prices developed positively in Russia and Central Asia, the demand for construction materials declined significantly in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic as a result of budget consolidation measures in these countries and the completion of construction projects related to the 2012 European Football Championship in Poland and Ukraine. Overall, cement, clinker and GGBFS sales volumes increased slightly to 17.2Mt, a 1% year-on-year increase. Revenues across all business activities in this region came to Euro1.44bn.
In North America demand for cement and ready-mixed concrete continued its recovery in 2012, driven especially by an increase in residential construction. Cement, clinker and GGBFS sales volumes recorded growth of 11.7%, rising to 11.7Mt. However, the group's result in the fourth quarter of 2012 was affected by Hurricane Sandy and an early winter start in Canada. In this region its revenue came to Euro3.44bn, a 13.4% increase year-on-year.
In the group's Asia-Pacific region, Demand for all of its products remained very strong due to construction activities that were supported by economic growth across the region. As a consequence, revenue showed growth of 17.6% for the full year and 12.8% for the fourth quarter. This rose to Euro3.48bn for the whole of 2012. Meanwhile, cement, clinker and GGBFS sales rose by 3.9% to 30.0Mt.
In HeidelbergCement's Africa-Mediterranean Basin region, cement, clinker and GGBFS sales were up by 0.9% to 9.2Mt. Revenues increased by 11% year-on-year to Euro1.135bn. The group noted particular improvements in its key markets of Ghana and Tanzania.
With regards to its progress in 2013 HeidelbergCement cited the IMF's expectations for slightly improved global economic growth, presumably linking this directly to demand for building materials. It cautioned that this growth was dependent on the continued focus of North America and Europe on their respective debt crises. There are still risks for the global economy from armed conflicts in the Middle East.
In North America, the company expects a continuing economic recovery and consequently a further increased demand for building materials, especially from residential construction and the raw materials industry. In Europe and Central Asia, HeidelbergCement anticipates divided development. While markets in Germany, Northern Europe, Russia and Central Asia should remain stable or continue to grow, weak economic development and low demand for building materials is expected in all other regions. In Asia and Africa the company expects sustained demand.
"Due to the continuing strong economic growth in the emerging markets and the recovery in the USA we are cautiously confident for the future," said Bernd Scheifele. "Macroeconomic risks have recently eased but still remain significant. The need for countries to deleverage will likely dampen volume growth in mature markets for the foreseeable future. In addition, we still have not recovered the margin loss from massively increasing energy costs over the past years. Therefore, we will unabatedly continue our efforts to reduce costs and improve efficiency and will continue to right-size capacities where necessary."
HeidelbergCement Ukraine appoints Tide as board chairman
16 January 2013Ukraine: The supervisory board of HeidelbergCement Ukraine (Dnipropetrovsk region) has dismissed acting board chairman David von Lingen and appointed Silvio Tide as the company's board chairman. Tide was elected to chair the board for three years until 2016. Previously he was a HeidelbergCement manager in Northern Russia.
Von Lingen took up the office of acting board chairman on 1 January 2013 in a position to last until 28 February 2013. Previously he had been a board member and the chief financial officer at the company.
HeidelbergCement began operations on the Ukrainian market in 2001. The company produces cement at two plants, one in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region south-west of Kieve region and the other in Amvrosiyivka, Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
Liberia drops tax on cement
09 January 2013Liberia: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia has suspended tariffs on cement. The government cited that the move was in the interest of national reconstruction and development.
Under Executive Order No. 46, titled 'Re-Instituting the Suspension of the Protective Tariff on Cement,' the Liberian government has repealed a US$2 protective tariff per 50kg bag of Portland cement imposed under the Revenue Code of Liberia, tariff No. 25.23. The mandate added that the need still exists to encourage local industries to supply cement to the general public at reasonable prices.
Liberia currently has one cement grinding plant, the Liberia Cement Corporation, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement which employs 63 people. In 2012 Nigerian cement producer Dangote announced plants to build a US$35m plant in the country.
HeidelbergCement commissions 1Mt/yr mill in Ghana
04 December 2012Ghana: HeidelbergCement has commissioned a new cement mill with a capacity of 1Mt/yr at its Tema cement grinding plant in Ghana. The project has cost Euro16m.
"The commissioning of the new cement mill is part of our strategy of focusing on expanding our clinker and cement capacities in attractive growth markets. In addition to Asia and Eastern Europe, these include, in particular, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa," said Dr Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. Schiefele added that HeidelbergCement announced in September 2012 the construction of a new clinker plant and a new cement grinding installation in the neighbouring country of Togo.
HeidelbergCement's subsidiary, Ghacem Ltd, operates two cement grinding plants in the coastal cities of Tema and Takoradi. With the commissioning of the new mill, the company has increased its cement grinding capacity to 3.7Mt.
Grim and grimmer: European cement production so far in 2012
14 November 2012The results are in from the European cement majors and the news from the Mediterranean producers is grim. A common phrase found in most of these financial reports was the 'challenging economic environment' in western Europe. Here's what this means.
In Spain, Cemex saw its net sales in its Mediterranean region (consisting mainly of Spain) slump by 17% to Euro1.10bn. Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV) posted a loss of Euro83m for the first nine months of 2012, almost 10 times the loss for the same period in 2011. In July 2012 the Spanish cement association Oficement noted that demand had fallen by 60% year-on-year.
In Italy, Italcementi reported a 92% crash in net profit, to Euro17.1m, for the first nine months of 2012, and a drop in revenue of 4%, to Euro3.39bn, for the first nine months of 2012. Buzzi Unicem reported a 21% decline in sales volumes of cement and clinker, and a drop in sales of 15% to Euro430m. Vicat reported that Italian sales across all its business lines were down by 9% for the year.
By contrast, beleaguered Greek producer Titan has finally started to show a (slight) increase in its revenue. It has been able to report a second consecutive quarter where turnover has risen year-on-year. Although Titan's net profit for the same period still plummeted by 96% to Euro2m.
Elsewhere progress of a kind is being made despite the ongoing European slump, mainly due to profitable assets held outside of western Europe.
Lafarge reported that its overall sales were up by 4% to Euro4.39bn in 2012 so far. Yet its income has fallen by 44% to Euro332m and its profits are suffering from its restructuring programme. In western Europe Lafarge noted that cement volumes were down by 11% to 12.5Mt so far in 2012 and that sales were down by 9% to Euro2.43bn.
Holcim reported a 5% increase in overall net sales and a 7% increase in operating profits to Euro1.57bn. In western Europe Holcim's sales volumes were down by 4.6% (like-for-like) to 20.1Mt and sales were down by 6% to Euro3.68bn.
HeidelbergCement reported a 2.5% increase in overall sales but pre-tax profits have fallen by 5% to Euro601m. HeidelbergCement's revenue from its cement business in western and northern Europe was down by 5% to Euro1.3bn. Buzzi Unicem reported overall flat sales at Euro2.15bn but net profit rose by 50% to Euro85m. Despite this Buzzi Unicem reported a drop of 8.5% in Germany.
Vicat reported little change in sales at Euro1.73bn for the year so far. Vicat's financial reporting made it hard to tell how much was lost in Europe but French cement sales were noted as being down by 12%. Cemex's sales volumes were down by 13% in northern Europe, with net sales down by 15% to Euro3.09bn. Italcementi's cement sales volumes in central and western Europe fell by 16.8% to 12.2Mt.
Of the major producers only Lafarge failed to state the obvious in its outlook about western Europe: that sales will continue to decline in 2012 and 2013. If Titan has set the bar for how much more pain the other European producers have yet to face then conditions are likely to get worse. Get ready for even more 'challenges' in 2013.
HeidelbergCement reports revenue up by 9.4% so far in 2012
08 November 2012Germany: HeidelbergCement has reported that its revenue for the first nine months of 2012 rose by 9.4% to Euro10.5bn from Euro9.62bn in 2011. The German construction materials group reported that earnings before interest and income taxes (EBIT) stayed flat at Euro1.07bn in 2012 compared to Euro1.08bn in 2011. Profit before tax fell by 5% to Euro601m from Euro635m.
Results for the third quarter of 2012 showed a different trend, with increasing EBIT and profit. Revenue rose by 9% to Euro3.94bn from Euro3.62bn compared with the same quarter of 2011. EBIT rose by 11% to Euro608m from Euro548m. Profit before tax rose by 6% to Euro427 from Euro403m. At the end of September 2012 the group's net debt stood at Euro7.76bn, a reduction of Euro740m compared to September 2011.
Cement and clinker sales rose by 2.5% for the first nine months of 2012, to 67Mt from 65.4Mt in 2011. By quarter, its sales remained flat, hitting 24.3Mt in the third quarter of 2012. The group attributed the increase for the nine-month period to a continued recovery of residential construction in North America and a persistently strong demand in Asia. The group blamed declining infrastructure expenditure in some European markets for its losses. The largest contribution to sales volumes was made by the 'Asia-Pacific' group area, followed by North America. The sales volumes of the 'Eastern Europe-Central Asia' and 'Africa-Mediterranean Basin' group areas remained at the previous year's level.
Heidelberg Cement India reports Q3 profit of US$1.42m
16 October 2012India: Heidelberg Cement India has reported an increase in its net profit for the third quarter of 2012, which ended on 30 September 2012, of US$1.42m, compared to a net loss of US$1.55m for the same period in 2011. Total income for the quarter increased by 23.1% to US$48.6m from US$39.5m.
HeidelbergCement India is a subsidiary of Cementrum IBV, a company incorporated under the laws of The Netherlands that is 100% controlled by HeidelbergCement AG.
Hanson to announce job losses
10 October 2012UK: Hanson, the UK subsidiary of HeidelbergCement Group, has announced that it will have to make job losses after a fall in demand. Hanson told its workers that demand for its core products, including asphalt, concrete and cement, had fallen by more than 10% during 2012 and that 2013 is likely to be worse.
The company said that it would have to take steps to balance the size of the business by reducing capacity and bringing overheads into line, moves that would 'inevitably' result in job losses.
An announcement on restructuring proposals will be made by the end of October 2012, with no details available yet on the number of job losses. The GMB union said it feared that hundreds of jobs will be lost.
Clinker plant and cement grinding facility for HeidelbergCement in Togo
21 September 2012Togo: HeidelbergCement has announced the construction of a new US$250m clinker plant with an annual capacity of 1.5Mt/yr in the town of Tabligbo, Togo. In addition, the company is building a new cement grinding facility with a capacity of 0.2Mt/yr in Dapaong.
"The construction of the new clinker plant and the cement grinding facility is part of our strategy to focus on expanding our clinker and cement capacities in growth markets. In addition to Asia and eastern Europe these include, in particular, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa," said Dr Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement.
"As west Africa possesses only relatively small limestone deposits, the clinker required in cement production often has to be imported at high cost. Our new clinker plant is of great strategic importance as it sources the limestone from its own deposits," added Scheifele.
The clinker will be processed to cement in HeidelbergCement's grinding mills in Togo as well as in the neighbouring countries of Benin, Ghana and Burkina Faso. This will replace clinker that has previously been imported from overseas and thereby strengthen HeidelbergCement's competitiveness in Africa. HeidelbergCement said that the project will stimulate improvement in local infrastructure and housing and is expected to create around 1300 jobs locally, of which more than 200 will be at the plants.
The project is being conducted within the framework of a partnership between HeidelbergCement and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and its finance partners. Commissioning of the two new plants is scheduled for 2015. The capacity expansion in Togo is already included in HeidelbergCement's capital expenditure plan.
Price increases bolster HeidelbergCement profits in Q2
01 August 2012Germany: Price increases and cost cutting at HeidelbergCement have halted a slide in cement margins and put the German cement producer on track to reach its 2012 targets.
HeidelbergCement's operating income before depreciation (OIBD) for the quarter ending 30 June 2012 rose by 7% to Euro698m from Euro651m in the same quarter in 2011. Its revenue rose by 11% to Euro3.78bn from Euro3.39bn. The company's efforts to chip away at its cost base, easing energy costs and price increases pushed through in 2012 have all helped HeidelbergCement post a 0.2% improvement in cement margins following steady declines in 2011 and early in 2012.
"We will do everything in our power to continue this positive trend in the second half of 2012," said chief executive Bernd Scheifele in a statement.
Demand for cement has remained robust in North America and Asia, prompting HeidelbergCement to affirm its outlook for a third consecutive year of growth in sales and operating profit. HeidelbergCement has also benefited from a slide of the euro against the US Dollar in the second quarter, which helped boost group revenue growth by 5 percentage points to 11.4%. Net profit was up by 16% to Euro184m.
Cement sales volumes benefited from strong demand in North America and Asia but sales declined in Europe due to decline in infrastructure spending. In western and northern Europe cement and clinker sales volumes fell by 5.1% in the first half of 2012 to 10.2Mt from 10.8Mt in 2011. In eastern Europe and central Asia cement and clinker sales volumes increased by 3.0% to 7.8Mt from 7.6Mt. In North America cement sales grew by 16.7% to 5.4Mt from 4.7Mt. In Asia-Pacific cement and clinker sales grew by 9.5% to 14.8Mt from 13.6Mt.
HeidelbergCement predicts that cement volumes in North America will rise by 8-11% in 2012, compared with a previous forecast of 4-7%. Sales in western and northern Europe could decline by as much as 2%. The company has slashed its global outlook for volumes to 4-6% growth, down from 6-9%, as its assessment of eastern Europe and Africa deteriorated.
"The growth in sales volumes, due to the additional capacities and a more or less significant increase in demand in Russia and central Asia, is being somewhat muted by the latest decline in demand in Poland and the Czech Republic," said HeidelbergCement.