Displaying items by tag: Results
US: Summit Materials’ mid-year results have been negatively affected by poor cement sales and lower aggregate sales from its Houston operations. Revenue rose by 15% year-on-year to US$717m in the first half of 2018 from US$623m in the same period in 2017. However, its sales volumes of cement fell by 10% to 0.97Mt from 1.08Mt. The company’s net loss rose to US$19m from US$3m.
“Organic sales volumes in our cement segment were impacted by a combination of high precipitation levels during April and May, together with competitive pressures in the markets we serve,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Tom Hill.
The building materials producer operates an integrated cement plant under the Continental Cement subsidiary at Hannibal in Missouri.
Germany: ThyssenKrupp has decreased its earnings forecast for its 2017 – 2018 financial year due to the poor performance of its Industrial Solutions division. The division is expected to report a negative adjusted earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) of Euro200m in the third quarter of the year due to higher expected total costs, particularly for a cement plant in Saudi Arabia and two other industrial projects. The group said that the number of major projects in the cement and fertiliser sector had decreased ‘considerably,’ partly due to the production overcapacity in the cement market.
"It is important to me to call it what it is. The results of our analysis at Industrial Solutions are anything but satisfying. The structure of plant construction must be adjusted to the changed market conditions in order to achieve a turnaround and finally become competitive again. We must act swiftly here," said Guido Kerkhoff, chairman of the executive board of ThyssenKupp. The group has proposed focusing its Industrial Solutions division on small and medium-sized projects and targeting plant construction on the higher-margin service business.
In mid-2017 the group announced plans to reorganised its Industrial Solutions division, including the decision to cut 1500 jobs in operational areas.
Lucky Cement’s profit down as costs mount
01 August 2018Pakistan: Lucky Cement’s profit has fallen as its cost of sales including coal, other fuels and packing materials have risen. Its standalone profit after tax fell by 10.9% year-on-year to US$98.3m in the financial year that ended on 30 June 2018 from US$110m in the same period in 2017. Its gross sales rose by 9.4% to US$543m from US$497m. Cement and clinker sales volumes rose by 9.3% to 7.82Mt from 7.15Mt with increases in both local and export sales.
Germany: HeidelbergCement’s revenue from its cement business fell by 2.5% year-on-year to Euro4.16bn in the first half of 2018 from Euro4.27bn in the same period in 2017. Despite this, its cement sales volumes grew by 3% to 61.9Mt from 60.1Mt due to growth in its Asia-Pacific and Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin, Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia areas. Across all business lines its sales revenue rose slightly to Euro8.43bn from Euro8.39bn although the group said it rose by 6% on a like-for-like basis. Its profit increased by 20.2% to Euro435m from Euro362m.
“The growth of revenue and sales volumes in all business lines reflects the strong market dynamics. All in all, we could significantly improve the profit also in the second quarter. The strong operational development, lower restructuring charges and a further reduction in financing costs more than compensated for the increasing cost inflation and negative exchange rate effects,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board. He added that a ‘solid’ development of results in the second quarter indicated a positive trend reversal after a weather-related difficult start of the year.
By region, in Western and Southern Europe the group’s cement and clinker sales volumes rose by 5.3% to 15.1Mt due to the acquisition of Cementir in Italy and the good development of sales volumes in Spain. In its Northern and Eastern Europe-Central Asia area, sales volumes fell by 4% to 11.5Mt due to bad weather. In North America its sales volumes decreased by 2.3% to 7.4Mt due to bad weather and the sale of its white cement business. In Asia-Pacific sales volumes rose by 5.4% to 17.5Mt with growth noted in Indonesia. Finally, in the group’s Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin area sales volumes grew by 6.4% to 9.9Mt driven by markets in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Vietnam: SCG Vietnam’s sales revenue rose by 20% year-on-year to US$639m in the first half of 2018. The subsidiary of Thailand’s SCG reported faster sales growth in the second quarter of 2018, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. Sales increased by 28% year-on-year to US$371m in the second quarter.
India: Shree Cement’s profit fell in the quarter that ended on 30 June 2018 due to higher power, fuel and logistic costs. Its profit dropped by 36% year-on-year to US$40.7m from US$64.1m in the same period in 2017. However, its income rose by 5.4% year-on-year to US$461m. During the reporting quarter the cement producer commissioned a cement grinding mill at its Kodla cement plant in Karnataka, it purchased a railway terminal at Hathbandh in Chhattisgarh and it acquired a majority stake in Union Cement in the UAE.
Trinidad: Trinidad Cement’s revenue rose by 4% year-on-year to US$132m in the first half of 2018 from US$127m in the same period in 2017. Its profit nearly tripled to US$7.57m.
Peru: UNACEM’s income rose by 8% year-on-year to US$295m in the first half of 2018 from US$272m in the same period in 2017. Its cement despatches fell slightly to 2.4Mt. The cement producer attributed the rising income to higher prices. However, its net profit fell by 48% to US$62.2m from US$119m due to less income from its subsidiaries.
Switzerland: LafargeHolcim’s first half profit fell by 43% from Euro561.8m in 2017 to Euro320.3m in 2018. Sales rose by 2.7% to Euro11.45bn. Under new CEO Jan Jenisch, who took over in September 2017, the company has been slashing costs, announcing earlier in 2018 that it will close its head offices in Zurich and Paris and shed around 200 jobs as it aims to save Euro345.2m/yr by the end of first quarter of 2019.
Jenisch said he was pleased with the sales growth, particularly the acceleration during the second quarter, when sales increased by 5%, up from a 2.7% rate in the first three months of the year.
"Operational issues in some markets have been addressed and we expect to deliver increasing margins as we capture the upward trend in demand through the second half of 2018," said Janisch. "We had a couple of plants where I was not happy that the output was not in line with market demand. We have made sure we can maximise their output in the second half."
Sales were supported by strong growth in India, one of the company's largest markets, where its subsidiary Ambuja Cement posted a 27% increase in profit during the second quarter. However, losses in Africa weighed heavily on the firm, with the regional unit reporting a loss after being hit by higher finance charges and losses from its South African business.
Jenisch said that the Africa and Middle East region will remain tough, while adding that the company would press ahead with its disposal programme. It aims to raise about US$1.73m from selling cement plants."We are on track here. We have done our portfolio review and will hopefully announce something later this year," said Jenisch. "However, there is nothing I can talk about at this time."
Cementir’s net profit rises sharply
27 July 2018Italy: Cementir Holding’s net profit rose to Euro77m in the first half of 2018, a massive 400.5% increase compared to just Euro15.5m in the first half of 2017. Revenues increased by 5.7% to Euro588.5m from Euro556.9m in the first half of 2017. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) improved by 9.5% to Euro96m from Euro87.7m in the first half of 2017. The impact of the devaluation of the main foreign currencies against the Euro on the gross operating margin had a negative effect of Euro7.9m. At constant exchange rates, EBITDA in 2017 would have amounted to Euro103.9m.
Chairman and CEO Francesco Caltagirone Jr explained that the results were up compared to the first half of 2017 also on a like-for-like basis, without the effect of the acquisition of Lehigh White Cement Company in the United States. The improvement in the gross operating margins in Turkey, Belgium and China, offset the worsening results in Egypt, Norway, Malaysia and Denmark. The results were also negatively affected the unfavourable winter weather conditions in the first quarter in Scandinavia and Belgium, as well as the earlier timing of Ramadan in Turkey and Egypt.