Displaying items by tag: Ireland

Ireland: CRH recorded total revenues of US$6.8bn in the first quarter of 2025, up by 3% year-on-year, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$495m, up by 11%. However, it reported a net loss of US$98m, compared to a net income of US$114m in the first quarter of 2024.

The company said performance was driven by its ‘differentiated strategy’, positive pricing and acquisition contributions, with underlying demand across key markets remaining positive. CRH completed eight acquisitions for US$0.6bn during the period and reaffirmed its full-year 2025 guidance for a net income of US$3.7bn – 4.1bn and adjusted EBITDA of US$7.3bn – 7.7bn.

US: CRH has appointed Nancy Buese as its chief financial officer (CFO). She will be based in New York. She succeeds Alan Connolly in the post, who was working as interim CFO. Connolly will return to his previous role as Director of Strategic Finance in May 2025.

Buese previously worked as Executive Vice President and CFO at Baker Hughes Company and Newmont Corporation. She has also served as Executive Vice President and CFO at MarkWest Energy Partners and MPLX and was a partner at Ernst & Young. She is a graduate of the University of Kansas.

Ireland: Ecocem has secured €4m in research funding as part of the European Innovation Council’s Pathfinder Challenges 2024 in order to optimise electric arc furnace (EAF) slag for low-carbon cement production. The four-year programme is funded by Horizon Europe and will explore ways to enhance EAF slag reactivity and its suitability as a supplementary cementitious material without compromising cement durability. The project was submitted to the Pathfinder Challenge 2 call: “Towards Cement and Concrete as a Carbon Sink.”

Corporate development executive director Eoin Condren said “For many years, we have been pioneering the use of a range of slags and cementitious materials to create scalable and durable low-carbon cement. Thanks to this grant, we will continue our groundbreaking work as the steel industry transitions to new manufacturing processes, delivering a viable solution for a new generation of waste from steel.”

Ireland: CRH recorded a 2% year-on-year increase in sales to US$35.6bn in 2024, with net income rising by 15% to US$3.5bn during the period. The producer's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 12% year-on-year to US$6.9bn.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the company's sales rose by 2% year-on-year to US$8.9bn, while its net income increased by 24% to US$700m and its EBITDA by 12% to US$1.8bn.

CRH invested US$5bn in mergers and acquisitions during 2024. It maintains a positive outlook for the 2025 financial year, forecasting a net income of US$3.7 – US$4.1bn and an EBITDA of US$7.3 – US$7.7bn.

UK/Ireland: France-based Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has launched a strategic licensing agreement with UK partner Cemblend, furthering its international expansion strategy. The deal builds on an existing partnership established in 2022 for the launch of Hoffmann’s 0% clinker cements, with the partners aiming to accelerate the decarbonisation of the construction sectors in the UK and Ireland. Under the terms of the agreement, Hoffmann Green will receive up to €2m in entry fees and annual royalties tied to the sales of Hoffmann cements and premixes. Cemblend will construct production units in the UK to support the rising demand for sustainable building materials.

Thomas Atkinson, international director of Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies, said “2024 marks a key period in Hoffmann Green's international development. After signing a strategic partnership in the US and strengthening our development in Saudi Arabia, this new licensing agreement provides us with ambitious new perspectives on the European market.”

Ireland: CRH has appointed Alan Connolly as its Interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The move follows the appointment of Jim Mintern, the current CFO, as Group CEO from January 2025. Recruitment is ongoing for a permanent CFO.

Connolly is a chartered accountant who holds over three decades of finance experience working at CRH. He has held several senior finance roles across the company’s European and Americas businesses. He most recently worked as the Director of Strategic Finance. Prior to this he was the Finance and Performance Director of Europe Materials, CFO of Global Building Products and Director of Group Finance. Before working for CRH, Connolly was an auditor at KPMG.

Ireland: CRH reported a rise in revenue to €9.56bn in the third quarter of 2024, up by 4% year-on-year. Net income grew by 5% in the third quarter to €1.27bn. Adjusted earnings by interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 12% to €2.28bn.

For the first nine months of 2024, total revenues increased by 2% to €24.3bn. Year-to-date net income grew by 13% to €2.55bn, with adjusted EBITDA also up by 12% to €4.73bn. Despite adverse weather, CRH anticipates positive market dynamics to continue into 2025, projecting net income between €3.44bn and €3.5bn and adjusted EBITDA between €6.25bn and €6.34bn. ​

One unusual thing about coverage of cement in the media is the way that discussions often centre precisely on its absence – that is, on alternatives to cement. These alternatives boast unique chemistries and performance characteristics, but are all produced without Portland cement clinker. They are generally called ‘alternative cements,’ perhaps because ‘cement-free cement’ does not have such a commercially viable ring to it. This contradictory tendency reached a new high in the past week, with developments in alternative cement across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. Together, they hint at a more diverse future for the ‘cement’ industry than the one we know today.

Asia

In Indonesia, Suvo Strategic Minerals has concluded tests with Makassar State University of a novel nickel-slag-based cement. Huadi Nickel-Alloy Indonesia supplied raw materials, and tests showed a seven-day compressive strength of 37.5MPa. Suvo Strategic Minerals says that a partnership with Huadi Nickel-Alloy Indonesia for commercial production is a likely next step.

Europe

Cement producer Mannok and minerals company Boliden partnered with the South Eastern Applied Materials (SEAM) research centre in Ireland to launch a project to develop supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) from shale on 7 October 2024. The project will additionally investigate CO₂-curing of cement paste backfill for use in mines. Irish state-owned global commerce agency Enterprise Ireland has contributed €700,000 in funding.

UK-based SCM developer Karbonite expects to launch trial production of its olivine-based SCM with a concrete company in 2025. The start-up launched Karbonite Group Holding BV, with offices in the Netherlands, to facilitate this new phase. Karbonite’s SCM is activated at 750 – 850°C and sequesters CO₂ in the activation process, resulting in over 56% lower CO₂ emissions than ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Managing director Rajeev Sood told Global Cement that talks are already underway for subsequent expansions into the UAE and India.

Back in the UK, contractor John Sisk & Son has received €597,000 from national innovation agency Innovate UK. John Sisk & Son is testing fellow Ireland-based company Ecocem’s <25% clinker cement technology in concrete for use in its on-going construction of the Wembley Park mixed development in London.

At the same time, Innovate UK granted a further €3.23m to other companies for concrete decarbonisation. Recipients included a calcined clay being developed by Cemcor, an SCM being developed from electric arc furnace byproducts by Cocoon, a geopolymer cement technology being developed by EFC Green Concrete Technology UK and an initiative to develop alternative cement from recycled concrete fines at the Materials Processing Institute in Middlesbrough. Also included was the Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture, which is working on the London stretch of the upcoming HS2 railway. The joint venture, along with partners including cement producer Tarmac and construction chemicals company Sika UK, will test low-kaolinite London clay as a raw material with which to produce calcined clay as a cement substitute in concrete structures in HS2’s rail tunnels.

Middle East

Talks are underway between UK-based calcined clay producer Next Generation SCM and City Cement subsidiary Nizak Mining Company over the possible launch of a joint venture in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The joint venture would build a 350,000t/yr reduced-CO₂ concrete plant, which would use alternative cement based on Next Generation SCM’s calcined clay.

North America

Texas-based SCM developer Solidia Technologies recently patented its carbonatable calcium silicate-based alternative cement, which sequesters CO₂ as it cures.

Meanwhile, C-Crete Technologies made its first commercial pour of its granite-based cement-free concrete in New York, US. C-Crete Technologies says that the product offers cost and performance parity with conventional cement, with net zero CO₂ emissions. Its raw material is globally more abundant than the limestone used as a raw material for clinker. Other abundantly available feedstocks successfully deployed within C-Crete Technologies’ repertoire include basalt and zeolite.

Across New York State, in Binghamton, KLAW Industries has succeeded in replacing 20% of concrete’s cement content with its powdered glass-based SCM, Pantheon. KLAW Industries has delivered samples to local municipalities and the New York State Department of Transportation. Its success expands the discussion of possible circular cement ingredients from the industrial sphere into post-consumer resources.

In Calgary, Canada, a novel SCM has drawn attention from one of the major cement incumbents: Germany-based Heidelberg Materials. It invested in local construction and demolition materials (CDM)-based SCM developer EnviCore on 9 October 2024. The companies plan to build a pilot plant at an existing Heidelberg Materials CDM recycling centre.

Conclusion

Alternative cement developers are still finding the words to talk about their products. They may be more than ‘supplementary’ up to the point of entirely supplanting 100% of clinker. Product webpages offer ‘hydraulic binder,’ ‘pozzolan’ and even ‘cement.’ As alternative ‘cements’ are developed, they build on the work of pioneers like Joseph Aspdin and Louis Vicat. Start-ups and their backers are now reaching commercial offerings, on a similar-but-different footing to cement itself. None of these novel materials positions itself as the sole, last-minute ‘super sub’ in the construction sector’s confrontation with climate change. Rather, they are a package of solutions which can combine into a net zero-emissions heavy building materials offering, hopefully before 2050.

Related to this is the need for ‘technology neutral’ standards, as championed this week by the Alliance for Low-Carbon Cement and Concrete (ALCCC), along with 23 other European industry associations, civil society organisations and think tanks. The term may sound new, but the concept is critical to the eventual uptake of alternative cements: standards, the ALCCC says, should be purely performance-based. They ought not attempt to define what technology, for example cement clinker, makes a suitable building material. According to the ALCCC, Europe’s building materials standards are not technology neutral, but instead ‘gatekeep’ market access, to the benefit of conventional cement and the exclusion of ‘proven and scalable low-carbon products.’

At the same time, cement itself is changing. Market research from USD Analytics showed an anticipated 5% composite annual growth rate in blended cement sales between 2024 and 2032, more than doubling throughout the period from US$253bn to US$369bn. If you can’t beat it, blend with it!

For a further discussion of alternative cement and binders in Europe, see Global Cement’s interview with ALCCC co-ordinator Joren Verschaeve in the forthcoming November issue of Global Cement Magazine on 17 October 2024.

Ireland: Mannok, Sweden-based minerals company Boliden and the South Eastern Applied Materials (SEAM) research centre at South East Technological University in Carlow, Wexford and Wicklow in Ireland have launched a 30-month project to reduce the embodied CO₂ emissions of cement. The project will investigate possible uses of shale as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM) in cement production and the CO₂ curing of cement paste-based mine backfill. Enterprise Ireland has supplied funding worth €700,000 for the collaboration.

Mannok operations director Kevin Lunney said "We are delighted to be working with SEAM and Boliden on this critical research for the cement sector, which could have many far-reaching benefits for the construction sector more generally. Finding local, viable, low-carbon solutions for the industry can make a major contribution to lowering emissions in Ireland."

Boliden specialist development engineer Adam McElroy and section-mill process head Colum Burns said "This project will greatly enhance our knowledge and understanding of the potential for developing low carbon cement for mine backfill purposes and for utilising backfill systems as a carbon sink. The project will also investigate synergies between the cement manufacturing and mining industries that could enhance the sustainability of both industries."

CRH, formerly Cement Roadstone Holdings, announced this week that CEO Albert Manifold is retiring at the end of 2024. He will be replaced by current chief financial officer Jim Mintern in the role. Manifold will continue to work as an advisor to CRH in 2025. Manifold’s time at the head of CRH marks a decade of considerable change at the group. Crudely, CRH had a market capitalisation of US$19bn at the start of 2014 when Manifold became CEO. At the end of 2023 the group’s market capitalisation was US$50bn.

From a cement sector perspective the big events during Manifold’s tenure include CRH’s acquisition of assets around the world from the Lafarge-Holcim merger in 2015, the purchase of Ash Grove Cement in the US in 2018, the divestment of various businesses in emerging markets and the move of the company’s primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange in 2023. However, at the same time, CRH has been constantly sharpening its portfolio. So, for example, the group bought Germany-based lime and aggregates company Fels in 2017 only to later sell off its European lime business in 2023 and 2024. In the late 2010s the group sold off its US and Europe-based distribution businesses. Then, in 2022, it divested its Building Envelope business. Manifold was also the inaugural president of the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) when it formed in 2018.

Fairly or unfairly, CRH has given the sense over the last decade of often being ahead of the curve in following the cement markets. After it increased its portfolio when Lafarge and Holcim merged, it sold up relatively quickly in India and Brazil. Famously during an earnings call for CRH’s second quarter results in 2019, Manifold said that the group was prioritising its businesses in the developed world. CRH’s focus on the US in the late 2010s through the acquisition of Ash Grove Cement set it up well for the current strength of the cement market in North America, long before others joined the party. Another striking Manifold statement came at the company’s annual general meeting in 2023 when, in the run-up to the US listing move, he described his company as a ‘de facto’ American company.

Things that may have gone less well for Manifold on the cement side, that we know about, include CRH’s quiet attempt to divest its business in the Philippines in the late 2010s. The company wasn’t alone in trying through. Holcim publicly said that it had signed a deal to sell its local business in 2019 only to declare that it wasn’t happening the following year. Cemex is currently in the process of selling its subsidiary in the country, DMCI Holdings, but it hasn’t concluded yet. More recent acquisitions such as assets from Martin Marietta Materials in Texas in early 2024 and a majority stake in Adbri in Australia are clearly strategic and fit the definition of ‘bolt-on’ but they seem to lack the grand ambition of the earlier big deals.

Questions have also been asked about Manifold’s pay over the years. From 2016 onwards the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), for example, has repeatedly raised concerns about executive pay rises at CRH and recommended on occasion that shareholders reject them. Manifold became the highest paid head of an Irish public company and was reportedly the third highest paid CEO on the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index (FTSE 100) in 2022. His response from one interview with the Irish Times newspaper in 2018 was simply: “I’m employed and paid very well to deliver shareholder returns.”

Looking back over the last decade, CRH was well placed to take advantage of the Lafarge-Holcim merger before Manifold started in 2014 but once he was in place it went for it and he led the charge. Yet, the Ash Grove Cement acquisition may prove to be the more momentous move given the current divergence of the European and North American markets. As readers may remember from the time, Summit Materials made a public counter offer but it was rebuffed. Albert Manifold was in charge of CRH and so he takes the credit. These are big shoes to fill. As Richie Boucher, the chair of CRH said in Manifold’s outgoing statement, “Under Albert’s leadership CRH has delivered superior growth and performance with consistently improving profitability, cash generation and returns.”