Displaying items by tag: HeidelbergCement
HeidelbergCement publishes Group Sustainability Report 2009/2010
08 September 2011Germany: HeidelbergCement (HC) has published its 2009-2010 Group Sustainability Report, which contains externally audited parameters for the first time. One of these independently verified parameters was HC's overall alternative fuels rate, which reached more than 20%.
The new report contains key performance indicators from HC's cement businesses that concern occupational health and safety and environmental protection that have been subjected to an independent review. In doing so, the company increases data quality and likewise complies with the obligations of the Cement Sustainability Initiative of the WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development).
"Sustainability is a management responsibility and part of our corporate strategy," said Dr Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. "By means of continuous reporting on our progress we aim at making our business activities transparent and binding so that all of our stakeholders can clearly see and understand the way in which we operate."
European firms release second quarter results
29 July 2011Europe: Several European cement producers have announced financial results for the second quarter and the first half of 2011. On 28 July 2011 Lafarge, the world's largest cement producer, announced that its profit fell by 16%, in part due to higher material costs (Read full story here). Other European producers have seen a mixed bag of results for the quarter, with Ciments Français and HeidelbergCement both reporting improvements over the year. Unlike the multinationals however, Cementos Molins and Titan, which both have significant interests in markets that are currently depressed, have had bad quarters.
Ciments Français took a consolidated revenue of Euro2.04bn in the first six months of 2011, down by 1.8% on the year. The group's recurring earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were down more significantly, by 12.8%, at Euro386.4m and its net profit was Euro232.2m. This compares favourably with the Euro166.9m made in the six months to 30 June 2010. The group's net debt was down by Euro218.2m to Euro1.19bn. Group sales volumes in the first six months of 2011 remained relatively stable (-0.7%) for cement and clinker at 21.9Mt. Sales volumes increased in India (+16.3%), France and Belgium (+10.8%), Thailand (+6.6%) and Morocco (+6.0%). Volumes dropped in Greece (-26.1%), Bulgaria (-25.0%) and Egypt (-14.1%). Volumes remained fairly steady in the group's other markets.
HeidelbergCement (HC) announced that its net profit grew to Euro208m in the second quarter, up by 25% on the same period of 2010. Revenue rose only slightly (3%) on the year to Euro3.4bn, burdened by negative exchange rate effects. The group's operating profit dropped by more than 10% to Euro441m, which the company attributes to rising energy costs that have not been offset by the implemented price increases. "Despite a positive development of revenue and results, we are not satisfied with the second quarter," said HC's CEO Bernd Scheifele, who added that the group's FOX 2013 fiscal savings programme had so far generated savings of some Euro134m. Its turnover for the second quarter was Euro3.39bn.
The attributable profit of the Spanish cement company Cementos Molins for the first half of 2011 went down by 57.8% year-on-year to Euro11.64m. Its turnover inched up by 0.6% to Euro400.23m. The 15% increase in the company's international operations offset a massive 24.7% fall that it registered in the domestic market. Its EBITDA amounted to Euro76.19m between January and June 2011, an annual decline of 16.2%.
Meanwhile, analysts are predicting an even worse time for Greece's Titan when it announces its results on 2 August. They expect its profit to drop by a staggering 64% amid the ongoing weakness in the Greek and US markets where Titan has a significant majority of its assets.
HeidelbergCement opens new plant in Greater Moscow
19 July 2011Russia: HeidelbergCement has officially opened its new plant TulaCement in the presence of numerous prestigious guests. The plant, which is located approximately 150km south of Moscow in the city of Novogurovsky, Tula region, has a cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr. Construction of the plant began in April 2009. The investment costs for the new plant, which employs around 400 people amounted to approximately Euro300m.
"We are very pleased that we are today able to inaugurate our state-of-the-art cement plant, TulaCement, which is one of the largest in Russia," explained Dr Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board. "In the future, the new plant will primarily supply the rapidly growing market in Greater Moscow with high-quality cement. We have thus reached another milestone in the expansion of our cement capacities in attractive growth regions and have increased our capacity in Russia to around 5Mt/yr."
The cement will be produced in a dry process in the highly-automated plant, which is equipped with environmentally-friendly technology. The entire production site including the quarry spans over 100 hectares. To ensure optimum logistics for delivery and cement shipments, HeidelbergCement has constructed several kilometres of road and railway lines. Four modern apartment buildings have been erected so that the employees can live on site.
"Russia is an attractive market for HeidelbergCement," added Dr Scheifele. "The demand for cement is rapidly increasing. It is anticipated that cement consumption will rise from 50Mt/yr in 2010 to around 70-90Mt/yr in the next 10 years."
HeidelbergCement has been active in Russia since 2001. Amongst other activities, the Group operates a cement plant near St. Petersburg and is the majority shareholder of a building materials company in Bashkortostan, one of the richest republics in Russia. The cement is imported to important growth regions via import terminals in Murmansk, Archangelsk and Kaliningrad.
Gorazdze in largest ever investment
14 July 2011Poland: On 5 July 2011 Gorazdze launched its newly completed investment, which will enable it to become the 'biggest cement producer in Europe.' The project consumed nearly Euro125m, which makes it the biggest investment in the company's history.
The project was initiated in May 2010, which Gorazdze helmsman Andrzej Balcerek considers to have been the best possible moment. "At that time, the demand for cement was slightly lower, with the whole economy slowing down. At present, it is sky-rocketing; in May 2011 growth was the highest in the last 100 years," he says.
Bernd Scheifele from HeidelbergCement, which is the owner of Gorazdze, sees the investment as a major step forward not only for the Polish firm but for its mother company too and a perfect example of Polish-German economic co-operation. He underlined the fact that over the last 17 years HeidelbergCement has invested around Euro450m in Gorazdze.
2013 start for HC Kazakh plant
04 July 2011Kazakhstan: HeidelbergCement plans to start production at a Euro200m cement plant in the western region of Mangistau in 2013 according to a statement made by the Kazakhstan Ministry of Industry and New Technologies on 27 June 2011. The plant will have an initial production capacity of 1Mt/yr of cement with the possibility of doubling its capacity in the future, the Ministry said.
HeidelbergCement has invested Euro70m in infrastructure around the plant, including roads, railway and electricity lines and living quarters for employees. The German cement company entered Kazakhstan in 2005 by purchasing Bukhtarma Cement Company, one of the leading cement producers in the country.