Displaying items by tag: Italy

Italy: The Administrative Regional Court of Lazio has confirmed fines on local cement producers for cartel-like behaviour after an appeal process. Italcementi has been fined Euro84m, Buzzi Unicem has been fined Euro60m and Cementi Moccia has been fined Euro0.69m, according to the ANSA news agency.

The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) originally imposed total fines of over Euro180m in late 2017 upon Italcementi, Buzzi Unicem, Colacem, Cementir, Sacci, Holcim, Cementirossi, Barbetti, Cementeria di Monselice, Cementizillo, Calme, Cementi Moccia, TSC and the Italian Cement Association (AITEC) for allegedly coordinating sales prices and agreeing market share from June 2011 to January 2016. The other cement companies are currently awaiting the outcome of their own appeals.

Italy: Colacem has purchased the Maddaloni cement plant from Italcementi. The transaction was part of the measures requried by the Italian Competition Authority when Italcementi acquired Cementir.

Italy/Switzerland/Turkey: Turboden has released information on its latest waste heat recovery (WHR) projects using its ORC turbogenerator for cement plants in Turkey, Switzerland and Italy.

In Turkey CTP Team and CTN Group have signed an order with Turboden for the supply of a 7MW ORC WHR unit with air cooled condenser to be installed in Çimko Çemento Narli’s plant. Turboden says that since the plant is located in an area where there is no water available for the cooling system, the ORC technology offer advantages over steam technology.

In Switzerland CadCime SA and LafargeHolcim have ordered a 1.3MW WHR unit that recovers heat from the existing pressurised water circuit, used for the district heating network. The order is the third from LafargeHolcim for an ORC unit from Turboden.

In Italy a 2MW WHR plant with direct heat exchange is being installed at Cementi Rossi’s plant. Start-up is schedule for the second quarter of 2018. This project received an award from the European Commission under the framework of Horizon 2020, whose main objective is to develop new solutions to recover waste heat in energy intensive industries such as cement, glass, steelmaking and petrochemical and transform it into electric energy.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s sales fell by 8.4% year-on-year to Euro539m in the first quarter of 2018 from Euro589m in the same period in 2017. Its cement sales fell by 1.6% to 5.1Mt from 5.2Mt. It blamed poor weather and reduced working days in the reporting period. Sales volumes in Eastern Europe performed well due to favourable trends in the Czech Republic and Russia. Sales in Italy improved due to the consolidation of Cementizillo into the group.

Italy: Cementir’s sales and earnings have fallen following the divestment of its local business. Its sales dropped by 1.6% year-on-year to Euro242m in the first quarter of 2018 from Euro246 in the same period of 2017 when adjusted for the divestment. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 12.4% to Euro241m from Euro27.5m. Cement sales volumes increased by 4.1% to 2.08Mt from 2Mt.

“The exit of Cementir Italia group from the perimeter of consolidation and the improvement in Turkey and China offset the deterioration of results in Egypt caused by the curfew introduced in February 2018, the effects of harsh weather conditions in Scandinavian countries, and the fewer number of working days due to the early Easter holidays, which resulted in lower earnings in Norway and, to a lesser extent, in Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Malaysia,” said the company in a results statement.

The group’s board of directors has also approved a business plan for 2018 to 2020 to recognise changes in its portfolio. In 2020 the group forecasts that the Nordic and Baltic countries and the US will generate about 72% of the group's revenue, while the Eastern Mediterranean area, including Turkey and Egypt, will generate 20% and the Asia Pacific area, including China and Malaysia, will account for around 6%.

Italy: Bedeschi has won an innovation award from Smau. The award was given to the bulk materials handling systems manufacturer for its use of virtual and augmented reality to display its products to customers at trade fairs. Bedeschi has worked with Airlapp to create 3D models and virtual reality simulations to allow it to visualise its models. Together the companies have used a smartphone app, Regiverse, to presents tours of its models that can be used on both Android and Apple iOS platforms.

Italy: Cementir’s sales rose by 25% year-on-year to Euro1.29bn in 2017 from Euro1.03bn in 2016. The results benefited from Cementir’s acquisition of CCB Group and Cementir Sacci in 2016. Cementir subsequently agreed to sell Cementir Italia, including Cementir Sacci, to HeidelbergCement in late 2017.

Cementir’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 11.5% to Euro221m from Euro198m. Its total cement sales volumes rose by 26.6% to 12.8Mt from 10.1Mt. Sales volume increases were attributed to a change in the scope of consolidation in Belgium and Italy and ‘good’ performance in Denmark, Turkey, Egypt and Malaysia.

The Italian cement producer also announced with its financial results that it will expand its presence in the US by acquiring an additional 38.75% stake of Lehigh White Cement Company from HeidelbergCement, giving it a majority of 63%.

Italy: The Board of Directors of Buzzi has approved the preliminary accounts for 2017, which see sales of cement at 26.8Mt, an increase of 4.4%, and consolidated revenues of Euro2.67bn, an increase of 5.1% year-on-year.

In Italy, Buzzi’s position benefited from the takeover of Zillo Group, which helped to raise clinker and cement volumes by 19.3%. However, average selling prices were down ‘siginificantly’ year-on-year. Overall consolidated sales were up by 14.0% year-on-year at Euro428m. Consolidated sales would have increased by 2% in the absence of the Zillo acquisition.

In Germany, cement sales were up by 4.5%, with total sales of Euro588m, a 2.7% year-on-year rise. In Luxembourg and the Netherlands, cement sales were also up by 4.5% year-on-year at Euro187m.

Sales were also improved in Poland (+0.7%), Czechia (+8.2%), Russia (+1.5%), the USA (+0.2%) and Mexico (12.7%), while they declined in Ukraine (-1.5%).

Austria/Germany/Italy: The European Cement Research Academy (ECRA) has launched its oxyfuel carbon capture pilot projects at HeidelbergCement’s Colleferro plant in Italy and LafargeHolcim’s Retznei plant in Austria. The two locations were chosen form a shortlist of five sites. The pilots will test oxyfuel technology on an industrial scale. The test phase of the research is expected to cost Euro80m and the cement industry has contributed Euro25m towards this. ‘Substantial’ funding from European or national research schemes is being sought.

“The technical feasibility of oxyfuel technology can only be proven in real-scale application, but we have sufficient information from our research to believe that we will obtain a positive result after the trials” said Daniel Gauthier, chairman of ECRA.

Italy: Legal firm Eversheds Sutherland has suspended a Euro1.8m fine imposed by the Italian Competition Authority on Calme. Fines were made to a number of Italian cement producers in August 2017, according to the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper. They were in relation to allegations of price fixing and market share coordination between 2011 and 2016.