Displaying items by tag: Jobs

US: Titan America has appointed Bill Zarkalis as CEO for Titan America. Zarkalis joins from parent organisation Titan Cement SA, where he has served as CFO since 2010. Prior to that, Zarkalis was Titan Cement SA's executive director of business development and strategic planning.

"It was a great learning opportunity and a privilege to take a detour from a long career in business management roles and serve Titan as CFO and I'm now thrilled to be with Titan America," said Zarkalis. "The building materials and construction industry has faced a deep and prolonged crisis. Our company has successfully weathered economic storms on both sides of the Atlantic and I'm grateful for our dedicated employees and the character and leadership that it took to get through this difficult period. We'll continue to focus our efforts on restoring financial fitness while we build a healthier, more profitable Titan America. Our future looks strong and I'm confident about our continued growth and success."

Before joining Titan, Zarkalis served in a variety of executive positions with Dow Chemical, including global vice president of Dow Automotive, global business director of specialty plastics and elastomers and global business director of synthetic latex. He has represented Titan in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the European Round Table (ERT) and the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI).

Bad news for both cement workers and local clinker production in Australia and New Zealand this week with the announcement of job cuts and planned closures of clinker plants. Holcim New Zealand has confirmed that around 120 jobs will go when its Westport cement plant closes in 2016 along with the rationalisation of a few management jobs when the company integrates its Australian and New Zealand businesses. Meanwhile, Boral announced that it will cut 28 jobs from its Maldon Cement plant in Australia when it ceases clinker production at the end of 2014.

With these planned closures cement production capacity in the antipodes will shrink by just over 1.5Mt/yr to around 7.5Mt/yr, a reduction of over 15% Alongside the drop in native cement production players are re-focusing on an import market.

The trend is highlighted by the fact that Boral's Maldon site will retain its grinding mill. Earlier in June 2014 it was reported that Vue Australia is planning to convert a brownfield site on Kooragang Island, New South Wales into a cement storage and transfer plant. In February 2014 Cockburn Cement cut 44 jobs at its Munster cement plant as it started to restructure its operation for grinding using imported clinker. Also in February 2014 Cement Australia, the joint-owned company between Holcim and HeidelbergCement, had a US$17m expansion of its cement loading and storage facility for processing at Osborne approved by local authorities.

Following its restructuring in 2013, which has seen clinker production cease at Waurn Ponds and soon to cease at Maldon, Boral reported that its cement revenues grew in its 2012 – 2013 financial year. This is likely to continue when the 2013 – 2014 year is reported in August 2014. Likewise, Adelaide Brighton reported growing revenues in 2013. Cement Australia reported growing cement sales year-on-year in the first quarter of 2014 following reduced sales in 2013.

All in all the local cement industry in Australia and New Zealand has taken quite a knock in recent years. Reasons for this have included a poor recovery for the local building materials market, high-energy costs, the Carbon Tax in Australia, competition concerns and the spectre of cheap clinker imports from East Asia undercutting everything. However the return to revenue and then profit suggest that the worst of the job cuts and clinker production shrinkage is over.

In this business environment, revelations such as a China Resources spending upwards of US$300,000 on golf are unlikely to garner sympathy for any measures that appear to reduce international competiveness for Australian industry. The current Australian government led by Tony Abbott is set to make good on its promise to repeal the Carbon Tax from July 2014. The environmental effects will be unclear given that the tax may have cut emissions from participating companies by 7%, falling from 342Mt in 2011 – 2012 to 321Mt in 2012 – 2013, according to the Investor Group on Climate Change. As is usual with localised carbon taxation or legislation, whether global emissions fell during this period or whether emissions grew in looser jurisdictions to compensate is hard to calculate. The trend towards clinker imports suggests that there may be a significant contribution from the latter.

Mexico: Cemex has announced that it has promoted its chief financial officer (CFO), Fernando Gonzalez, to chief executive. Gonzalez replaces Lorenzo Zambrano, who died suddenly on Monday 12 May 2014. It also named Rogelio Zambrano, a cousin of the late executive, as its new chairman. Lorenzo Zambrano had been chief executive since 1986 and chairman since 1995.

"We will stay focused on creating value for all of our stakeholders," said Rogelio Zambrano in a statement. "I am very optimistic about Cemex's future." He has been a member of the Cemex board since 1987 and president of the company's finance committee since 2009.

Fernando Gonzalez joined the company in 1989 and held senior positions in a number of regions before being named executive vice president for finance and administration several years ago. "We are encouraged by the positive outlook and the improving business environment in the markets where we operate," he said in the release.

The board's decision to replace Lorenzo Zambrano from within the company is likely to reassure investors of continuity at Cemex, which is seeing a recovery in earnings after the recent economic crisis led the highly leveraged firm to refinance debt, sell assets and lay off around 10% of its workforce. The speed at which the board has responded is also likely to instill confidence.

After taking over the company, Zambrano embarked on a rapid and ambitious international expansion that transformed Cemex from a regional producer into a global supplier of cement and building materials, borrowing heavily to acquire companies and aggressively paying down debt.

Russia: France's Lafarge, the world's largest cement producer, has announced that it has appointed André Martin to the position of chief executive in its Russian division. He replaces Alex de Valukhoff.

"To come to Russia and serve as the CEO of Lafarge Russia is an honour I find humbling and motivating," said Martin to the Moscow Times. "Together with the team of professionals we are committed to contributing to the building of better cities."

Martin joined Lafarge in 1995, initially working in cement mergers and acquisitions before rising to the post of president of Lafarge-Agregate-Betoane in Romania in 1999. He has also worked for Lafarge in North America. Most recently Martin was the senior vice president for Lafarge's industrial customer segment in Paris.

Europe: Peter Hoddinott has been elected as President of CEMBUREAU for a two-year term at the Association's General Assembly, which was held in Vienna, Austria on 11 June 2013. He has completed his mandate as Vice-President over the past year. He takes over from Ignacio Madridejos. In addition, Daniel Gauthier, a member of the HeidelbergCement managing board, has been elected as Vice-President of CEMBUREAU, also for a two-year term.

Peter Hoddinott has been Executive Vice-President for Energy and Strategic Sourcing at Lafarge since 2012, responsible for worldwide energy strategy and sourcing of Lafarge's externally-sourced inputs. Previously, he held operational roles in Western Europe Cement, Latin America and South East Asia for Lafarge.

On his election as President of CEMBUREAU, Hoddinott stated, "Being elected to serve the cement industry of Europe is a privilege and honour. I am keenly looking forward to working with the whole sector to build on the foundations laid by Ignacio Madridejos over the past two years. Specifically, this involves actions to reinforce and strengthen the sector in the face of its current challenges."

"I take this opportunity of thanking Ignacio Madridejos for his commitment to the Association over the last two years" said Koen Coppenholle, CEMBUREAU Chief Executive. "I also wish to thank the Association of the Austrian Cement Industry, VÖZ, for organising this latest CEMBUREAU General Assembly. As highlighted by the European Cement Research Academy (ECRA), there are several innovation initiatives in the pipeline, and I look forward to progress in this field over the next decade."

Nigeria: The Northern Cement Company of Nigeria has appointed of Alhaji Ibrahim Aminu as executive director (finance). He replaces Finn Arnoldsen. Alhaji Garba Muhammad Sarkin Kudu has been appointed as a non-executive representing Sokoto State Government on the board, replacing Alhaji Sani Garba Shuni. The appointments take immediate effect.

Alhaji Ibrahim Aminu, a chartered accountant aged 45, holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Ahmadu Bello University. He started his working career in 1991 with the Federal Civil Service Commission, Lagos and subsequently worked for the Nigeria Universal Bank, the Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Co, Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd and BUA Flour Mills, before joining the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria as financial director in 2010.

Alhaji Garba Muhammad Sarkin Kudu, aged 53, holds a Bachelor of Art Degree in History from Usman Dan Fodio University. He has held various roles with the Sokoto state government becoming the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism prior to his appointment with the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria.