Displaying items by tag: US
Eagle Materials revenue rises slightly in first half of 2016
26 October 2016US: Eagle Materials’ revenue has risen by 2.6% year-on-year to US$630m in the first half of 2016 from US$614m in the same period of 2015. Its net earnings rose by 56% to US$106m from US$67.6m. Revenue from its cement business rose by 10% to US$252m from US$229m. The company singled out the strong performance of its cement business in the second quarter of 2016 with record earnings. However, it also noted that average net cement sales price at its joint venture declined year-on-year due to the shift from oil well cement to construction-grade cement over the past year. Overall cement sales volumes remained static at 2.23Mt in the first half of 2016.
FCT Combustion wins contracts in the US and Brazil
20 October 2016Brazil/US: FCT Combustion has released details on contracts it has been awarded from CSN Cement Brazil and Ash Grove Cement. CSN Cement Brazil in Arcos, Brazil has ordered a Turbo-Jet kiln burner with a maximum thermal power of 102Gcal/hour for high sulphur petcoke, heavy fuel oil, alternative solid fuel and alternative liquid fuels firing for its 6500t/day cement kiln. Ash Grove Cement in Seattle, Washington in the US has awarded a contract for 63Gcal/hour Gyro-Therm MKII kiln burner for natural gas firing.
FCT Combustion has also opened new offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and São Paulo, Brazil.
Doug Oberhelman to retire from Caterpillar in March 2017
18 October 2016US: Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman will retire from Caterpillar on 31 March 2017. The company’s board of directors has elected Jim Umpleby, currently a Caterpillar Group President with responsibility for Energy & Transportation, to succeed Oberhelman as CEO.
Umpleby, a 35-year veteran of the company, will join the Caterpillar Board of Directors and become CEO effective 1 January 2017. He joined Solar Turbines in San Diego, California in 1980. Solar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar, is a manufacturer of industrial gas turbine systems. Early in his career, he held numerous positions of increasing responsibility in engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing and customer services. Umpleby lived in Asia from 1984 to 1990 with assignments in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Caterpillar Board of Directors elected Umpleby a Caterpillar Vice President and President of Solar Turbines in 2010. He was named Group President and a member of Caterpillar’s Executive Office, effective from January 2013.
Elementia to buy 55% stake in Giant Cement Holding
14 October 2016US: Elementia has signed a letter of intent with Cementos Portland Valderrivas to buy 55% of Giant Cement Holding for an undisclosed value. Giant Cement Holding is a US cement producer with operations on the east coast that includes three cement plants, three limestone quarries, two aggregate quarries, six terminals and four waste handling facilities.
In a statement Elementia said that the acquisition would grant it access to the third-largest cement market in the world. The acquisition is subject to obtaining all applicable regulatory approvals and the completion of the internal processes by both companies.
US: Summit Materials has appointed Noel R Ryan III as its new Vice President, Investor Relations. Ryan has more than 15 years’ experience in the investor relations and capital markets industries, most recently serving as Vice President and Head of Investor Relations & External Communications for Calumet Specialty Products Partners, a publicly traded producer of specialty hydrocarbon and fuels products.
Previously, Ryan served as head of the investor relations function at Delek US Holdings and as head of corporate communications at QEP Resources. Prior to these roles, he was Executive Director and Co-Head of the Financial Communications Practice Group at a nationally-ranked investor relations consultancy. Ryan began his career in US equities research at Banc of America Securities. He holds a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Hanson Permanente Cement files for bankruptcy
05 October 2016US: Hanson Permanente Cement has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the US Bankruptcy Court in the Western District of North Carolina. The cement producer based in California has blamed the move on liabilities related to the sale of products containing asbestos since 1978. As of 31 August 2016, the debtors were defendants in approximately 14,000 pending asbestos-related bodily injury lawsuits filed in state courts across the country, according to New Generation Research. Hanson Permanente Cement’s Chapter 11 petition indicates total assets greater than US$100m.
US: St. Marys Cement’s has received inducement resolution approval from the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) for up to US$150m in private activity bonds to expand its Charlevoix plant in Michigan. The cement producer will now submit a more detailed plan to the MSF.
“This is great news for St Marys, its employees and customers,” said Senator Wayne Schmidt. “Not only will this project help the company to grow its Charlevoix plant and expand its capabilities to better serve customers, but it will also create new jobs in the community.”
According to MSF, the plant upgrade will expand the plant’s infrastructure to increase productivity. The project is expected to qualify for bond financing as a solid waste disposal and recycling facility. The company currently employs 232 people, and the expansion project is expected to add up to 200 jobs during construction and up to 10 permanent jobs upon completion.
Private activity bonds are a source of financial assistance to economic development projects in the state. They provide profitable firms with capital cost savings stemming from the difference between taxable and tax-exempt interest rates. A bond inducement is the first step in a bond transaction.
Ecocem step forward
28 September 2016Once again Ecocem has shone the torch this week for a rare thing within Europe these days: a growing cement company. Its latest project is an import terminal in Sweden, as part of a deal with Bolidan, which launched on 22 September 2016. This supports an arrangement to supply cement for the Boliden Garpenberg mine. The agreement also includes supply for the Boliden Tara Mines in Ireland.
This follows the announcement to build a new slag grinding plant in Dunkirk, France in early September 2016 and the opening of a new terminal in Runcorn, UK earlier in the year. The 1.4Mt/yr Dunkirk plant is a joint-venture with the steelmaker ArcelorMittal, intended to target markets in north of France and in the UK. Once complete it will join Ecocem’s growing collection of grinding units in Ireland, France and the Netherlands. The slag-cement producer operates a 0.35Mt/yr plant at Dublin, a 0.7Mt/yr plant at Fos in the south of France and a 0.35Mt/yr plant at Moerdijk under its subsidiary Orcem Netherlands.
The focus on the UK makes sense given that Ecocem said that it had made commitments to sell more product in the UK in its first year than its total domestic sales in 2016. This followed the situation where, prior to entering the British market, Ecocem had to stop taking orders in the short term due to demand. If this is actually the case then it is unsurprising to note that Ecocem is also building a second UK terminal at Sheerness at the mouth of the River Thames near to London. As an aside, Francis Flower bought the Scunthorpe ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) plant from Hanson Cement in mid-2015 after the local market regulator requested the sale.
As Charlie Zeynel, ZAG International, says in an interview to be published in the October 2016 issues of Global Cement Magazine, that supplementary cementitous materials, including slags, in cement blends has grown worldwide, particularly in Europe and Japan, where GGBS cement represents around 25% and 30% of cement sales respectively. Zeynel goes on to say that GGBS usage is set to rise in other parts of the world, particularly the US, but this helps to explain the market Ecocem is operating in within northern Europe.
Ecocem seems well aware of the potential for slag cements in the US because it is attempting to build a Euro45m grinding plant Vallejo, California under its Orcem Americas subsidiary. The process has so far been dogged by planning problems at the proposed site as well as organised local opposition, which does not want a new industrial plant in the neighbourhood and issues such as the increased traffic it would bring. The irony here is that Ecocem bills itself as an environmentally friendly cement producer. Yet even environmentally-friendly cement needs to be manufactured and taken to site.
To misquote Kermit the Frog: it’s not easy selling green cement. However, Ecocem’s progress in Europe is encouraging both in the UK and the wider area. Roll on the opening of the Sheerness terminal.
Find out more about Ecocem's operations here: www.ecocem.fr/en/
Eagle Materials appoints George Damiris to its board of directors
28 September 2016US: Eagle Materials has appointed George Damiris to its board of directors. Damiris is the chief executive officer and president of HollyFrontier Corporation. He also serves as a director at HollyFrontier and Holly Logistics Services.
US competition body seeks public comment on Essroc sale to Argos
26 September 2016US: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is accepting public comments on an application from HeidelbergCement and Italcementi to sell the Essroc Martinsburg cement plant in West Virginia. The divestment is required by the FTC as part of the requirements of the acquisition of Italcementi and its subsidiary Essroc, by HeidlebergCement. The companies have sought permission from the FTC to sell the Martinsburg plant to the US division of Colombia’s Cementos Argos.
The Commission will decide whether to approve the proposed divestiture after expiration of a 30 -day public comment period. Public comments may be submitted until 24 October 2016.