Displaying items by tag: Italy

Italy: Italcementi has posted a net loss of Euro34.6m for the first quarter of 2012, compared with a net profit of Euro127.6m for the same period of 2011. The 2011 results benefited from the sale of Italcementi's operations in Turkey.

Revenues fell by 6.8% year-on-year to Euro1.07bn. Recurring earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 3.1% to Euro126.7m and EBITDA went down by 8.7% to Euro135.5m. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) slumped by a massive 41.4% to Euro21.3m.

Italcementi posted a pre-tax loss of Euro7.8m for the quarter compared with a pre-tax profit of Euro24m for the first quarter of 2011. Its net financial debt rose to Euro2.18bn on 31 March 2012 compared to Euro2.09bn at 31 December 2011.

Italy: Italcementi has inaugurated its new research centre, i.lab, costing Euro40m near Bergamo in northern Italy. Once complete the centre, which was designed by US architect Richard Meier, will cover 23,000km³ and will employ 1300 researchers.

Italcementi will focus the research on the development of new building materials and on the use of renewable and reusable raw materials. The centre will also research special products such as 'pollution' cement.

In 2010, Italcementi's ITCLab received the European Greenbuilding Award of the European Commission for energy efficient construction and now the centre can also boast Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum certification. The centre allows energy saving of up to 60% compared to traditional buildings, director general Giovanni Ferrari said.

Italy: An on-going personnel crisis at Italcementi has prompted the company to request unemployment subsidies from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies.

Following a statement from the company on 11 January 2012 that up to 265 workers would be made redundant, Italcementi sought out the Extraordinary Redundancy Fund, a specialist Italian fund designed to help ailing industries.  This loss represents approximately 7.5% of the company's Italian workforce.

In the statement Italcementi announced that layoffs would affect a total of 265 existing employees: 80 at the headquarters of Italcementi, 60 at Group Technical Centre in Bergamo, 115 (out of a total of 1651 employees) in 18 Italian plants and 10 in the company's commercial network.

Outside of Italy the restructuring of the group will include changes in Spain, Belgium, Egypt and the US. 22,000 employees work for Italcementi worldwide, with 3500 in Italy. In November 2011 the company reported a 51.7% drop in third quarter profits despite the sale of its Turkish assets.

Italcementi has not responded to requests for further information from Global Cement.

Italy: Italcementi has reported a 51.7% fall in third quarter net profits to Euro25m despite the sale of its assets in Turkey earlier in 2011.

The profit over the nine months to 30 September 2011 was up at Euro123.2m from Euro18.5m in 2010, with the group saying that cement sales were up in Belgium, France, North America and in the emerging markets of India, Morocco and Thailand. Total group sales remained almost unchanged at Euro3.6bn for the same period. Italcementi's cement sector reported Euro2.3bn for the first nine months of 2011, a drop of 8.4% from Euro2.5bn in the same period in 2010. Cement sales volumes remained steady at 38.9Mt. The group reported a contraction in Egypt due to the civil unrest there and said there was, "stagnation in some industrialised economies."

"The positive results seen on emerging markets where, with the exception of Egypt, sales volumes rose by around 3%, confirms their strategic importance," said Italcementi's chief executive Carlo Pesenti in a statement. "More than 60% of our production capacity is located in these regions and this will increase in the near future with the new development projects recently set up in India," Pesenti continued.

The group said the profit fall was due to 'the unfavourable dynamic of operating costs and exchange rate effects' Italcementi sold equity investments in Turkey for Euro133.4m earlier in 2011 and said it would continue with cost cutting.

"While the Egyptian market will still be affected by political instability and increased local competition, the rest of the group should generate improved operating results, also thanks to positive price trends in Italy," it said. "In the fourth quarter, the group should record a decline in operating results that will be less than those of the previous quarters," it said, adding that it expected a 'significant improvement' in net profit for 2011 overall.

France/Italy/Turkey: French cement maker Ciments Français has said that it will sell its 51% stake in Turkish Afyon Çimento Sanayi TAS. The French company, part of the Italcementi group, has mandated Mediobanca to be its financial adviser in assessing and carrying out the potential sale of its stake.

In February 2011 Ciments Français started divesting assets in Turkey with the sale of Set Group Holding to diversified Turkish group Limak Holding. After the latest strategic move in Turkey, Mediobanca does not rule out that Italcementi may leave markets on which it has minor presence, such as China, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia.