Displaying items by tag: Results

Kenya: Lafarge Bamburi Group has posted a 13% drop in its pre-tax profit to stand at US$43.9m for the six months ending 30 June 2012. The group's operating profit was down by 9% to US$42.7m. Both were negatively impacted by continued volatility of global fuel prices, resulting in higher raw material, transport and power costs.

This was further aggravated by the removal of a government power subsidy in Uganda that led to a 70% increase in power prices, which affected the company's Ugandan subsidiary Hima Cement.

Lafarge Bamburi's turnover rose by 17% percent to US$228m, while cash generated from operations during the period under review amounted to US$60.6m, 33% higher than what was generated in 2011.

"The regional cement market will continue to be vibrant," said the company in a statement. "The focus will be on retaining the upward trend of revenue growth. The group will continue to capitalise on progress made in its cost control measures to cushion the top line."

US: Eagle Materials Inc has reported a 29% rise in total revenue for the first quarter of the 2013 fiscal year which ended on 30 June 2012. The North American building materials producer noted revenue of US$154m for the quarter, up from US$120m in the same period in 2011.

Cement sector revenues for the first quarter, including joint venture and intersegment revenues, totalled US$76m, a 26% increase year-on-year from US$59m in 2011. Sales volumes rose by 26%, including wholly-owned and joint ventures, to 848,000t from 674,000t. The revenue improvement reflects a 26% increase in first quarter cement sales volume. Cement price increases were achieved in both the Texas and Mountain regions during the first quarter but were offset by the increased pace of high-volume, lower-priced bid work in the company's other markets.

Operating earnings from cement for the first quarter were US$9.9m, a 12% increase from US$8.8m year-on-year. The earnings impact from increased cement sales volumes was mostly offset by higher maintenance costs associated with scheduled maintenance at all of Eagle's cement facilities. The company calculated that first quarter operating earnings were negatively impacted by approximately US$8m due to this maintenance.

Italy: Italcementi Group has released consolidated results for the six months to 30 June 2012, which show mixed results across its operations. Revenue and earnings were both down, as was the group's net profit, which was drastically down due to the absence of a major one-off receipt seen in the year-ago period. The company announced that it expected the second half of 2012 to be broadly in line with that of 2011.

The group's consolidated revenue for the first half of 2012 was Euro2.29bn compared to Euro2.42bn in the first half of 2011. Recurring earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at Euro328.7m compared to Euro371.7m in the first half of 2011. Italcementi's total profit for the period was Euro0.8m, compared to Euro187.8m in the first half of 2011. This apparent drop was due to the absence of a receipt from the sale of Turkish operations, which was conducted in the first half of 2011.

In the first half of 2012 consolidated cement and clinker sales totalled 23.5Mt, a drop of 7.5% compared to the first half of 2011. The reduction was largely due to the decline in central western Europe and, to a lesser degree, in Egypt. Sales in Asia continued to make good progress and sales volumes in North America and Bulgaria showed a strong recovery.

Italcementi said that its first half results confirm the upturn in North America and the recovery in prices in some markets, although demand was down in the Eurozone. Among emerging countries, it recorded positive market performances in India and Morocco, while the sales trend in Egypt remained negative, although better than expected. It added that its withdrawal from the Turkish market a and new strategic agreement in China had generated positive impact on its financial position.

Going forward, Italcementi said that the effects of efficiency measures, together with a positive dynamic in prices on a number of markets should enable it, in the absence of currently unforeseen events, to reach full-year operating margins broadly in line with those of 2011.

Germany: Price increases and cost cutting at HeidelbergCement have halted a slide in cement margins and put the German cement producer on track to reach its 2012 targets.

HeidelbergCement's operating income before depreciation (OIBD) for the quarter ending 30 June 2012 rose by 7% to Euro698m from Euro651m in the same quarter in 2011. Its revenue rose by 11% to Euro3.78bn from Euro3.39bn. The company's efforts to chip away at its cost base, easing energy costs and price increases pushed through in 2012 have all helped HeidelbergCement post a 0.2% improvement in cement margins following steady declines in 2011 and early in 2012.

"We will do everything in our power to continue this positive trend in the second half of 2012," said chief executive Bernd Scheifele in a statement.

Demand for cement has remained robust in North America and Asia, prompting HeidelbergCement to affirm its outlook for a third consecutive year of growth in sales and operating profit. HeidelbergCement has also benefited from a slide of the euro against the US Dollar in the second quarter, which helped boost group revenue growth by 5 percentage points to 11.4%. Net profit was up by 16% to Euro184m.

Cement sales volumes benefited from strong demand in North America and Asia but sales declined in Europe due to decline in infrastructure spending. In western and northern Europe cement and clinker sales volumes fell by 5.1% in the first half of 2012 to 10.2Mt from 10.8Mt in 2011. In eastern Europe and central Asia cement and clinker sales volumes increased by 3.0% to 7.8Mt from 7.6Mt. In North America cement sales grew by 16.7% to 5.4Mt from 4.7Mt. In Asia-Pacific cement and clinker sales grew by 9.5% to 14.8Mt from 13.6Mt.

HeidelbergCement predicts that cement volumes in North America will rise by 8-11% in 2012, compared with a previous forecast of 4-7%. Sales in western and northern Europe could decline by as much as 2%. The company has slashed its global outlook for volumes to 4-6% growth, down from 6-9%, as its assessment of eastern Europe and Africa deteriorated.

"The growth in sales volumes, due to the additional capacities and a more or less significant increase in demand in Russia and central Asia, is being somewhat muted by the latest decline in demand in Poland and the Czech Republic," said HeidelbergCement.

India: Birla Corporation has earned a profit after tax of US$15.3m in the first quarter of the current financial year (ending 30 June 2012) against US$20.2m in the same quarter of the previous year. This represents a more than 24% drop year-on-year. Birla's net sales from operations for the quarter were US$118.5m. 

Commenting on the results, Harsh V Lodha, chairman of the company, said that the profitability of the company continued to be affected due to the closure of limestone mining operations at its Chanderia units on account of an order from the high court of Jodhpur. It was also observed that higher coal and freight prices had caused reduced margins.

India: Two of Holcim's Indian subsidiaries have reported rises in their second quarter 2012 profits. Ambuja Cement has reported a 35% growth in net profit for the quarter ending 30 June 2012 due to increased sales, to US$84.6m from US$62.8m in the same period of 2011. Net sales by the company rose by 17.9% to US$463m during the quarter from US$392m in 2011. Ambuja Cement attributed this to a 7.3% rise in sales volume, to 5.54Mt from 5.16Mt.

During the quarter, absolute Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the company rose by 22.8% to US$133m. However Ambuja Cement declared that higher operational expenses impacted upon this rise. Total expenses for the company, including raw material and power costs, rose by 15.7% to US$354m from US$306m. The company expects that profit margins are likely to remain under pressure due to steep rise in cost driven by higher raw material prices and rise in distribution and freight costs.

Meanwhile, ACC has reported a 26% rise in consolidated net profit for the second quarter of 2012 due to strong revenue growth, to US$74.8m from US$59.2m in the same period in 2011. Total consolidated turnover for ACC in the quarter rose by 15% to US$526m from US$458m in 2011. The company sold 6.05Mt of cement during the quarter compared to 5.93Mt in the same period in 2011.

Like Ambuja Cement, ACC mentioned 'steep' escalations in most of its key input costs including slag, fly ash, gypsum and power. The company also commented that the increase in railway freight rates with effect from March 2012 substantially impacted both inward and outward costs.

Both Ambuja Cement and ACC were fined in June 2012 by the Competition Commission of India for their alleged involvement in a price-fixing cartel. Ambuja Cement was fined US$210m and ACC was fined US$207m. ACC is currently taking steps to appeal against the fine.

Vietnam: The state-run Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (VICEM) has announced that it made a pre-tax profit of US$15.9m in the first half of 2012, a 73% year-on-year rise compared to the first half of 2011 and 44% of its whole-year target. Howver, its revenues fell by 1.2% year-on-year to US$682m during the same period.

Vicem reports that it sold 9.71Mt of cement and clinker in the first half of 2012, a 1.4% drop compared to the same period of 2011. Of the total 0.65Mt was exported, a 1.5% increase. Vicem produced 7.45Mt/yr of cement and 7.08Mt/yr of clinker between January and June 2012.

Meanwhile, a city authority has called a halt to the construction of a new cement plant amid continued overcapacity in Vietnam. Kinh Bac City Development Share Holding Corp (KBC) has received approval from authorities from the central province of Nghe An to withdraw from a cement plant project worth of hundreds of millions of US Dollars.

Construction of the Saigon-Tan Ky plant, which was planned to have a designed capacity of 5Mt/yr, was started on 19 May 2010 and it was expected to be developed in two phases. The production capacity for the first phase was projected to be 2500t/day (0.95Mt/yr). Investment for the first phase was proposed at US$71.8m. Local media has reported that the support structures for the three kiln plant have not yet been completed.

Vietnam had around 2.8Mt of cement in inventories by the end of June 2012 but the figure is expected to rise to as much as 6Mt by the end of the year. Local media reports that the overcapacity has been brought about through the 'unplanned construction of cement plants' in recent years.

China: Henan Tongli Cement Co Ltd, a Shenzhen-listed cement producer, said that its first half 2012 net profit rose by 8.6% year-on-year to US$15.2m. Its operating revenue dipped by 2.8% year-on-year to US$308m.

Meanwhile China Tianrui Group Cement Co Ltd, a Henan Province-based clinker and cement producer, said that it booked US$42.7m in net profit in the first five months of 2012, a plunge of 43% year-on-year. Its revenue dipped by nearly 6% year-on-year to US$485m.

Peru: Cementos Lima, Peru's largest cement producer, has posted a second-quarter net income of US$20.3m, down from US$22.2m a year earlier. The company blamed an increase in its costs.

Lima's second-quarter revenue however, was up year-on-year to US$111.7m compared with US$98.0m a year earlier. The company said that its cement production in the quarter was 0.87Mt, an increase of 12.4% compared to that seen in the same quarter of 2011.

Mexico: Mexico's cement giant CEMEX has released its financial results for the second quarter of 2012. These show total consolidated net sales of US$3.9bn during the period, a 1% rise on a like-to-like basis compared to the second quarter of 2011. Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 11% during the quarter to US$702m. On a like-to-like basis operating EBITDA increased by 22% in the same period.

Cemex attributed the increase in consolidated net sales on a like-to-like basis to higher prices in local currency terms in all of its regions. It reported that infrastructure and residential sectors were the main drivers of demand in most of its markets.

Net sales in Cemex's operations in Mexico decreased by 14% in the second quarter of 2012 to US$833m compared with US$968m in the second quarter of 2011. Operating EBITDA decreased by 4% to US$300m versus the same period of 2011. The groups's operations in the US reported net sales of US$795m for the quarter, up by 15% year-on-year. Here its operating EBITDA increased to US$27m, comparing favourably to a loss of US$17m in the same quarter of 2011.

In Northern Europe, net sales for the second quarter of 2012 decreased by 18% to US$1.10bn, compared with US$1.34bn in the second quarter of 2011. Operating EBITDA was US$122m for the quarter, a 19% fall from 2011. Second-quarter net sales in the Mediterranean region were US$384m, 20% lower compared to the US$477m taken during the second quarter of 2011. Operating EBITDA decreased by 23% to US$96m for the quarter compared to the same quarter in 2011.

Cemex's operations in South & Central America and the Caribbean reported net sales of US$529m during the second quarter of 2012, representing an increase of 20% over the same period of 2011. Operating EBITDA increased by 58% to US$189m in the second quarter of 2012 from US$120m in the second quarter of 2011. Operations in Asia reported a 10% increase in net sales year-on-year to US$142m compared to the second quarter of 2011. In this region its operating EBITDA was US$30m, up by 35% from the same period of 2011.

Fernando A González, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration, said, "We are pleased with our 22% growth in operating EBITDA on a like-to-like basis, on back of a 1% growth in consolidated net sales. This is the highest EBITDA generation since the third quarter of 2009 and the fourth consecutive quarter with a year-over-year EBITDA increase. We are particularly pleased with the quarterly performance of our operations in the United States, South & Central America and the Caribbean and Asia regions."