Displaying items by tag: Titan Cement

Greece: Titan Cement has signed a frame agreement with Belgium-based Magotteaux whereby the latter will continue to be the main partner for grinding media for Titan cement plants worldwide until the end of 2021. Magotteaux says that the deal follows the ‘very successful’ implementation of the first phase of a strategic partnership.

The supplier said, “Magotteaux is also proud to supply many more technical solutions to Titan, including ball mill internal cast parts such as liners and diaphragms.” It added, “The aim of this agreement is to improve Titan’s overall cost of production, by increasing the productivity, reducing maintenance cost and downtime, by using the latest technologies for the abrasive and impact applications.”

North Macedonia: Konstantinos Derdemezis has resigned as president of Cementarnica Usje, a subsidiary of Greece-based Titan Group. No reason for the departure has been disclosed, according to See News. Yanni Paniaras has been appointed to cover the position until the company’s next shareholders meeting.

Greece: Titan Cement has signed a new service agreement with Denmark-based FLSmidth. The agreement covers sustainability, digitisation and productivity support across 17 of the producer’s cement plants in Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Titan Group strategic planning director Antonis Kyrkos said, “We are constantly on the lookout for more efficient ways of running our operation. With this service partnership agreement, we tap into a wealth of knowhow and hundreds of specialists without carrying the full cost. The two-and-a-half-year agreement allows both parties to work strategically on maintenance programmes and upgrade projects based on data and the best allocation of resources.”

FLSmidth Europe, North Africa, Russian and Commonwealth of Independent States regional head of cement sales Carsten Pustelnik said, “The agreement reaffirms our belief in planned maintenance programmes, supported by digitalised processes, as the next level in service optimisations. We have invested heavily in acquiring the skills and infrastructure to provide online condition monitoring and safely handle and analyse data from our customers.”

Greece: Titan Cement recorded earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of Euro229m in the first nine months of 2020, up by 10% year-on-year from Euro208m in the first nine months of 2019. Its sales fell slightly to Euro1.20bn from Euro1.21bn. The group noted “resilient sales volumes across most of our markets, ” including “strong domestic and export growth in Turkey and improving demand in Brazil.”

Dimitri Papalexopoulos, chair of the group executive committee said, “We are successfully addressing several challenges at the same time: taking care of our people and those around us, delivering improved operating results and accelerating progress against our sustainability ambitions. Despite the uncertain context, we remain confident in the solidity of our business model, based on the nature of construction activity, our track record in facing the pandemic and the resilience and dedication of our people.’’

US: Green Business Certification Inc has awarded Titan America’s Pennsuco cement plant in Medley, Florida the TRUE Platinum zero waste certificate. TRUE, which stands for “Total Resource Use and Efficiency,” provides a ratings systems by which facilities can receive recognition for achieving zero waste goals. The Pennsuco plant, “repurposed office supplies and materials, composted organic waste and xeriscaped – the process of landscaping that reduces or eliminates the need for supplemental water from irrigation – among other major initiatives.” The plant is the first in the cement industry to achieve TRUE Platinum certification.

Environmental engineer Allyson Tombesi, who led the zero waste recertification, said, “It’s not just about receiving an award: being zero waste is about considering how we can minimise our impacts so that future generations have the opportunity to live in a sustainable environment. The programme was created with a goal to encourage our employees to lead a zero-waste lifestyle at both the plant and at home. Through programme participation, we hope to inspire our employees and our industry to take action that benefits the future of our planet.”

Egypt: Alexandria Portland Cement’s sales fell by 10% year-on-year to US$63.2m in the first half of 2020 from US$63.2m in the same period in 2019. Its net loss grew by 26% to US$13.2m from US$10.6m, according to Mubasher. The company is a subsidiary of Greece-based Titan Group.

Greece: Titan Group says that cost savings, lower prices for solid fuels and price ‘resilience’ all helped to grow its earnings in the first half of 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBTIDA) rose by 12% year-on-year to Euro137m from Euro122m in the same period in 2019. Its revenue remained stable at Euro786m in the first half of 2020. Cement sales volumes fell by 2% to 7.9Mt but ready-mix concrete increased by 1.3% to 2.64Mm³ and aggregates increased by 2.6% to 9.2Mt. Although coronavirus-related lockdowns were mostly blamed for falling cement sales volumes they were also affected lower exports from Greece and the lack of fly ash supply in the US. Its US and Eastern Mediterranean regions contributed the most to its performance, with strong starts to the year in Egypt and Turkey before as the pandemic mounted.

Greece: Titan Cement has reported net losses after tax of Euro16.3m in the first quarter of 2020, up by 122% year-on-year from Euro7.34m in the first quarter of 2019. Revenue also increased, by 6.1% year-on-year to Euro385m from Euro363m. Titan Cement said, “Since mid-March 2020 the outbreak of the coronavirus had a significant, although unevenly distributed, impact on demand for our products. The early impact of the pandemic on our sector was less severe than what was initially feared. Construction has been deemed to be an essential service in most markets and all our cement plants continued their operations, adjusting their production to satisfy the current level of demand.”

Greece: Titan Cement has published its integrated annual report for 2019, a year in which its net profit fell by 5.5% year-on-year to Euro50.9m from Euro53.8m in 2018 and sales rose by 8.0% to Euro1.61bn from Euro1.49bn. The company noted its ‘sustained performance and stronger cash flow generation’ throughout the year, with growing demand in the US and Southeastern Europe and the beginning of growth in Greece, in spite of a 7.0% year-on-year fall in cement volumes to 17.0Mt from 18.2Mt in 2018. Challenging conditions in Egypt and Turkey caused the group’s performance to deteriorate.

Titan Cement said that it is ‘on track to meet the Group’s 2020 sustainability targets and has already met ‘all targets related to emissions and water consumption.’
It acknowledged inevitable ‘short-term impacts’ of coronavirus, including reduced sales volumes ‘particularly and more severely in the second quarter of 2020,’ and has strengthened its liquidity position to Euro400m.

US: Green Business Certification (GBC) has recognised Titan America subsidiary Roanoke Cement’s successful implementation of its zero waste policy at the 1.5Mt/yr Troutville, Virginia plant with a Total Resource Use and Efficiency (TRUE) Gold award. In 2019 the plant won the GBC’s TRUE Silver award. Roanoke Cement environmental engineer Lindsey Layman said, “In order to elevate our TRUE Zero Waste certification, we ramped up our zero waste policy to include, for example, physical audits of waste and improving recycling practices on-site. As a result, we have created a zero-waste culture and achieved an average of 98% overall diversion from landfill and incineration of solid non-hazardous wastes.”