Displaying items by tag: Kuwait
RAK White Cement's sales rise as profit drops in 2022
06 February 2023UAE: RAK White Cement recorded consolidated sales of US$67.4m in 2022, up by 3.3% year-on-year from US$65.3m in 2021. The producer recorded a 36% year-on-year profit drop to US$5.74m from US$8.95m.
During the third quarter of the year, RAK White Cement secured the approval of its board of directors to delist its shares from the Boursa Kuwait stock exchange.
Kuwait: ACICO Group has appointed Vassilis Mavridis as its Group Chief Operating Officer for Factories. He previously worked for Sibline as its Chief Operating Officer in Lebanon. Prior to this he worked for Titan Cement in Greece for around 18 years, eventually becoming the plant manager of the Thessaloniki Plant from 2003 to 20211 (2021 or 2011?). Mavridis holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and qualifications from Cranfield University in the UK and the Harvard Business School.
Kuwait: Kuwait Portland Cement more than doubled its sales year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022, to US$107m from US$45m in first quarter of 2021. The company’s net profit also rose, by 69% to US$7.18m from US$4.24m.
Kuwait: Bruks Siwertell has received an order from Kuwait Portland Cement for a ST 490-M type ship unloader. The rail-mounted unit will handle various cement types and deliver a continuous material handling capacity of 800t/hr, discharging vessels up 50,000dwt. It will be installed on an existing jetty next to the customer’s older ST 490-F type rail-mounted Siwertell unloader. Delivery to the port is planned for mid-2023. A notable feature of the order is the unit’s ability to withstand high ambient temperatures of up to 55°C.
Kuwait: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has banned all export and re-export of cement and other construction materials from Kuwait. However, it has allowed individual citizens to import construction materials for personal use. The ban is part of a raft of a measures intended to stem the increase in building material prices. The Kuwait News Agency has reported that cement prices rose after the resurgence of the coronavirus outbreak in India suspended Indian imports.
The ministry subsidises building materials including cement and concrete. In May 2021 it paid US$45m towards such subsidies. It continues to monitor the cement market and cement production for ‘unlawful’ price rises.
Kuwait’s cement production capacity is 9.0Mt/yr, while 2020 consumption was 6.0Mt.
HeidelbergCement's divestment strategy
24 February 2021News has been dripping out slowly over the last few months about which assets HeidelbergCement is planning to divest. This week reporting from Bloomberg suggested that the German-based building materials producer might be seriously considering selling one or more integrated plants in Spain. The idea is reportedly part of a wider review of its portfolio in the country with the possible inclusion of cement plants at San Sebastian and Bilbao at a future date also. A proposed price of Euro300m for the national business was put forward by the sources to the reporters but it is unclear how many cement plants that figure includes.
HeidelbergCement announced in July 2020 that it had reduced the value of its total assets by Euro3.4bn following a review. It blamed this on reduced demand for building materials due to the coronavirus pandemic and the devaluation of its Hanson subsidiary in the UK, in part related to the UK’s exit from the European Union. A divestment plan followed at its Capital Markets Day event in September 2020 when it said it was simplifying its country portfolio and prioritising the strongest market positions. To this end it said it was setting up a watch list of underperforming assets to keep an eye on.
Over the next few months a number of corporate reorganisations and actual confirmed divestments occurred as well as plenty of speculation. HeidelbergCement-controlled Suez Cement started to acquire a 100% stake in its own subsidiary, Tourah Portland Cement, in September 2020. Suez Cement then sold its majority stake in Kuwait-based Hilal Cement in late January 2021. This week HeidelbergCement Bangladesh informed the local stock exchange that it is planning to amalgamate its subsidiary Emirates Cement.
Signs that European reviews had taken place could be seen later in the autumn of 2020. In November 2020 the Italian press picked up on rumours that HeidelbergCement was planning to move subsidiary Italcementi’s research centre from Bergamo, Lombardy, to Heidelberg in Baden Württemberg. Whether this was ever a serious proposition or not, this appeared to have been avoided in early February 2021 when an Italian union said it had agreed with Italcementi to keep the research centre in Italy as well as a preserving jobs generally. Meanwhile, also in November 2020, France-based subsidiary Ciments Calcia announced a major upgrade at its integrated Airvault cement plant but along with the conversion of two other integrated plants into a grinding unit and a terminal respectively, and changes at the French headquarters at Guervill.
Just before Christmas the bigger speculations started to appear in the press, with a story suggesting that HeidelbergCement was considering selling assets in California, US, with a target price of US$1.5bn for three integrated plants and associated concrete and aggregate units. That story is particularly beguiling given Cemex’s decision this month to reopen a kiln in Mexico to supply cement to the southwest US to meet shortages (See GCW 493)! Incidentally, readers should also note the story this week about a shortage of natural gas exports from Texas, US, that has caused cement plants in northern Mexico to shut down. This week, as mentioned at the start, has seen Spain added to the list of places that HeidelbergCement might be considering selling up in. The Spanish market like Italy has been rationalising heavily over the last decade particularly as export markets have dwindled. Oficemen, the Spanish cement association, reported that domestic cement consumption fell by 10% year-on-year to 13.3Mt in 2020 from 14.7Mt in 2019. On top of this Oficemen has repeatedly warned of the threat that CO2 emissions prices pose for its members’ exports.
Group chairman Dominik von Achten told Reuters this month that the company plans to sell the first of the five assets in early-to-mid 2021. Of course he wouldn’t say where, except for adding that the company would stay in ‘rock solid’ markets like Northern Europe. Indonesia has been seen as a candidate for disposal by analysts, likely due to local production overcapacity levels and LafargeHolcim’s own departure in Indonesia 2018. All Von Achten would say on the matter was that Indonesia was an ‘important’ market for the group. Whether it’s seen as important for reducing company debt or building value remains to be seen. HeidelbergCement hasn’t exactly been shy about saying what they are doing over the last half year or so but they are only going so far and they won’t comment on speculation. So in the meantime we must wait to find out more.
HeidelbergCement discusses Hilal Cement sale
28 January 2021Kuwait/Germany: HeidelbergCement has detailed the reasons behind the sale of its 51% stake in Hilal Cement, which has been led by HeidelbergCement subsidiary Suez Cement since 2016. The group said that the divestment represents the first step in a ‘comprehensive portfolio optimisation’ in line with its Beyond 2020 strategy.
Chief executive officer Dominik von Achten said, “We are pleased with the closing of the transaction in Kuwait.” He continued, “The focus of our portfolio management is the simplification of country portfolios and a prioritisation of the strongest market positions.”
Hilal Cement operates two cement terminals and four ready-mix plants.
Suez Cement sells majority stake in Hilal Cement
26 January 2021Kuwait: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Suez Cement has sold its 51% majority stake in Hilal Cement. Decypha News has reported the new owner of the stake as Silver Share Real Estate. Boodai Group retains 44% of the remainder of shares.
ACICO Cement orders second mill from Cemengal
25 November 2020Kuwait: Spain-based Cemengal says that it has received a second order from ACICO Cement for a 1Mt/yr ball mill with a XP4i-130 type Magotteaux classifier for a new grinding plant. The company said that the project, which it expects to commission in the first quarter of 2021, encompasses “full engineering and complete supply of mechanical, process, electrical and automation equipment, as well as steel manufacturing from the raw materials handling areas up to the silos cement discharge. In addition to the delivery of technology, the site supervision, training and commissioning activities.”
The supplier said that the new mill “will help our Kuwaiti client to satisfy the growing demand for high quality cements for major infrastructure developments” in the country.
Iranian cement production grows by 14% to 36Mt in first half of year
18 November 2020Iran: Cement production rose by 14.4% year-on-year to 35.6Mt in the first half of the local calendar year that started in March 2020 from 31.1Mt in the same period in the previous year. The sector exported 5.8Mt of cement with a value of US$128m to 28 countries according to the Mehr News Agency. India, Afghanistan, Russia, Iraq, Qatar, Kenya, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China and Oman were among the export destinations of cement.