Displaying items by tag: Italy
HeidelbergCement appoints new board of directors for Italcementi
26 October 2016Italy: HeidelbergCement, the sole shareholder of Italcementi, has appointed a new board of directors its subsidiary at a shareholder meeting on 19 October 2016. The new members are Luca Sabelli as chairman, Dominik von Achten as executive vice president, Lorenz Näger as executive vice president and Roberto Callieri as chief executive officer.
On 12 October 2016, HeidelbergCement purchased the remaining Italcementi shares that had not been tendered in the mandatory tender offer. From this date HeidelbergCement became the sole shareholder of Italcementi and owns 100% of the share capital. Italcementi shares were delisted from the Italian Stock Exchange on the same day.
Italy: Italcementi will start temporary lay-offs for workers at its Scafa and Monselice cement plants when unemployment benefits end on 31 January 2017. The plans were announced at a meeting on 14 October 2016 following agreements signed in December 2015 at the Ministry of Labour by trade union representatives and Italcementi’s workers, according to the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper. The cement producer has confirmed that the on-going reorganisation at its plants are related to poor market conditions and not the acquisition of Italcementi by HeidelbergCement.
Italy: Industry minister Carlo Calenda has said he is a ‘little’ worried about the intentions of HeidelbergCement to reduce its business in Italy after it buys Italcementi. The government is negotiating with HeidelbergCement about the purchase and it has confirmed its readiness to support investments, according to the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper. The government has also asked the German construction materials producer to make a wish list and has launched a series of meetings.
Italy: Cementir has appointed Paolo Bossi as the chief executive officer of Cementir Italia, Cementir Sacci and Betontir. The new appointment follows Cementir’s acquisition of Sacci and is the start of a rationalisation process of the Cementir group in Italy, according to a company statement.
Italy: The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has decided to extend its investigation of the Italian Cement Association (AITEC) and cement producers including Italcementi, Colacem and Sacci. The AGCM has been looking into alleged coordinated increased in cement prices over the past six months. The regulator has now extended its inquiries until May 2017 due to ‘suspicious’ behaviour. The inspections have revealed that simultaneous price rises and similar sales prices communicated to customers in advance has been in practice by the companies being investigated and other players in the sector.
Buzzi Unicem makes gains in first half of 2016
04 August 2016Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s sales have risen by 1.9% year-on-year to Euro1.26bn in the first half of 2016 from Euro1.24bn in the same period in 2015. Its cement sales volumes rose by 2.7% to 12.2Mt from 11.9Mt and its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 33.5% to Euro223m from Euro167m. The group attributed the gains to sales volumes increases in all markets except Italy and Russia. Sales increases were particularly notable in the US and Poland.
Italcementi’s revenue falls slightly before takeover
03 August 2016Italy: Italcementi’s sales revenue has fallen by 2.1% year-on-year to Euro2.12bn in the first half of 2016 from Euro2.17bn in the same period in 2015. Its sales volumes of cement rose by 2.8% to 22.3Mt from 21.7Mt. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 44% to Euro177m from Euro316m. The cement producer blamed the revenue drop on negative currency effects, although sales volumes rose notably in North America. Its fall in EBITDA was attributed to group restructuring costs and an impairment on operations in Belgium for approximately Euro320m.
HeidelbergCement’s acquisition of Italcementi is expected to complete in the second half of 2016.
Cementir presents mixed results in first half of 2016
01 August 2016Italy: Cementir Holding’s sales revenue has risen by 1.1% year-on-year to Euro481m in the first half of 2016 from Euro476 in the same period in 2015. However, its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 1.5% to Euro72m from Euro73.1 and its net profit fell by 53.7% to Euro11m from Euro23.9m. The group blamed the drop in profit indicators on exchange rate movements.
Sales volumes of cement for the building materials producer rose by 4.8% to 4.75Mt from 4.53Mt. Revenue grew in Scandinavian countries and in Malaysia, it remained stable in Turkey and it fell in Italy, Egypt and China.
Cementir buys Sacci cement business for Euro125m
01 August 2016Italy: Cementir Holding’s subsidiary Cementir Italia has acquired Sacci’s cement and ready-mixed concrete business division for Euro125m. The acquisition has been made by Cementir Sacci, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cementir Italia. A payment of Euro122.5m was made on 29 July 2016. The remainder will be paid in July 2018. A financing contract has been signed with the related party ICAL 2 to finance the acquisition.
Cementir Holding group will operate in Italy through two companies: Cementir Italia and Cementir Sacci, approximately doubling its production capacity, commercial strength and distribution network. The industrial footprint has grown, with the addition of five cement production plants, three distribution terminals and 28 ready-mixed concrete plants. In Italy, total installed capacity will be 6.8Mt/yr and the company’s presence will increase from six to 11 of the country’s regions.
Cementir quietly grows its business
27 July 2016And the winner of the Italcementi assets in Belgium is… Cementir. The Italian multinational cement producer picked up Compagnie des Ciments Belges for Euro312m this week. The deal included all of Italcementi's cement, ready-mix and aggregates assets in Belgium, Italcementi's stake in an existing limestone joint-venture with LafargeHolcim and a portion of HeidelbergCement's limestone quarry in Antoing. It was offered by HeidelbergCement to the European Commission to ensure approval of its acquisition of Italcementi.
The assets from Compagnie des Ciments Belges comprise one 2.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant, three terminals and 10 ready-mix concrete plants. As ever, the add-ons confuse the final price but the deal values the cement production capacity at Euro125/t or US$138/t. This figures seems low compared to the other big sale this week of Holcim Lanka to Siam City Cement. There, the Thai producer picked up an integrated cement plant and a grinding plant with a combined cement production capacity of 1.6Mt/yr for US$400m. That values the cement production capacity at US$250/t.
Increasing its presence in western Europe makes a lot of sense for Cementir. It’s one of the smaller European multinational cement producers with 14 cement plants, often white cement producers, in Italy, Turkey, Denmark, Egypt, the US, China and Malaysia. Altogether this comes to 15.1Mt/yr in cement production capacity. In its press release, Cementir described Gaurain-Ramecroix, the cement plant it is buying, as the largest integrated cement plant in France-Benelux, region with ‘state-of-the-art’ technology and long-life mineral reserves.
Italcementi reported a 2.9% year-on-year fall in cement and clinker sales volumes in Belgium in 2015, noting a general reduction in cement consumption in all areas of the construction industry. The mineral reserves were confirmed at least as environmental clearance as granted and work began at the new Barry quarry at Gaurain-Ramecroix.
Cementir has rebuilt its revenue since hitting a high of Euro1.15bn in 2007 although it dipped again in 2014. Despite this ordinary portland and white cement sales volumes have been slowly falling from a high of 10.5Mt in 2011 to 9.37Mt in 2015. That said though its businesses in Scandinavia generated just under half of its operating revenue in 2015. So far in 2016, total group revenue rose by 2.8% to Euro210m in the first quarter of the year, with a fair portion of that attributable to Scandinavia. Bolting on a cement and concrete business in (relatively) nearby Belgium makes sense in this context provided the construction market eventually rallies.
Yet, another on-going Cementir acquisition back home in Italy may make the company reflect on the risks of buying assets in Belgium. Cementir is drawing closer to purchasing the cement and concrete arm of Sacci as it plans to pick up five cement plants and assorted ready-mix concrete assets for the bargain price of Euro125m, following a protracted bankruptcy. Cementir may remember that Lafarge sold some of these assets to Sacci for Euro290m in 2008 before the situation deteriorated. The top brass at Cementir must be praying that the Sacci’s fate doesn’t await them in Belgium.