Displaying items by tag: costs
India: UltraTech Cement recorded consolidated sales of US$6.86bn in its 2022 financial year, up by 18% year-on-year from US$5.83bn. The Aditya Birla subsidiary's net profit was US$957m, up by 34% from US$713m. Its total expenses also increased, by 20% to US$5.61bn from US$4.69bn. The sharpest rise, of 45%, was in power and fuel expenses, to US$1.43bn from US$985m.
Pakistan: Lucky Cement has recorded nine-month sales of US$1.17bn in its 2022 financial year, up by 38% year-on-year from US$846m in the corresponding period of 2021. The company’s consolidated cement volumes fell by 7.1% to 7.07Mt, while its unconsolidated cement volumes fell by 3.4% to 5.51Mt. Unconsolidated costs per tonne of cement rose by 49%. Explaining its net sales growth, the company noted the ‘impressive’ performance of its overseas cement business, which includes a stake in Democratic Republic of Congo-based Nyumba Ya Akiba Cement. Lucky Cement’s profit after tax for the period was US$143m, up by 20% from US$119m.
Lucky Cement says that a cement plant expansion in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is progressing and on-schedule for completion in 2022.
FANCESA to close Sucre sales agency
29 April 2022Bolivia: Fábrica Nacional de Cemento (FANCESA) has announced the planned closure of its Eastern Regional Office (ORO) sales agency in Sucre, Chuquisaca Department. The Correo del Sur newspaper has reported that the agency records 30 – 40% of the level of sales of its other agencies. It operating costs are US$1.57 – 1.75m. 17 people currently work at the ORO Agency. FANCESA acknowledged that it may face labour-related ‘internal problems’ in carrying out the closure.
World Cement Association calls for Middle East and North African cement sector decarbonisation
22 April 2022Middle East/North Africa: The World Cement Association (WCA) has called on its members in the Middle East and North African cement sectors to take new actions towards industry decarbonisation. UAE-based consultant and WCA member A3 & Co has said that companies in the region have the potential to cut their carbon footprints by up to 30% with no new capital expenditure required. The Middle East and North Africa accounted for 15% of global cement production in 2021. In the region, only the UAE and Saudi Arabia have committed to national net zero carbon targets, for 2050 and 2060 respectively.
WCA CEO Ian Riley said “There has been a lot of discussion in Europe and North America about decarbonisation roadmaps for the cement industry and good work has been done to start on this journey. However, 90% of the world’s cement is produced and used in developing countries; to impact overall industry emissions we must include these stakeholders. Cement companies in the Middle East have some low hanging fruit to take advantage of, which will lower costs at the same time as reducing CO2 emissions. At WCA we have a number of programmes that can help them realise this opportunity."
Serbia: The impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine mean that the Serbian cement industry’s operations are ‘endangered’ and will likely fail to meet steady market demand in the coming months. Serbian Cement Industry Association director Dejana Milinkovic said that the industry relied on Russia and Ukraine for 50% of its coal supply in 2021.
In 2021, the industry produced 2.6Mt of cement, up by 10% year-on-year, operating close to 100% capacity utilisation.
Bangladesh: Shun Shing Group subsidiary Seven Circle says that it has successfully migrated its on-premises, business-critical, finance and manufacturing systems to Oracle’s Cloud Infrastructure digital services platform. The Bangladesh Monitor newspaper has reported that the company made the transition in order to lower its costs, increase its operational agility and improve productivity. It has since experienced a 30% drop in capital expenditure and almost doubled its uptime as a result. Seven Circle also deployed cloud disaster recovery capabilities for its workloads on the new platform. This can allow the company to serve its customers in a timely manner and reinvest the savings to drive innovation.
Shun Shing Group human resources and digitalisation head Anika Ali Chowdhury said “Running our back-office operations quickly and reliably, 24/7, is critical for success. It helps us to ensure we are sourcing the best raw materials, making the right production investments, and delivering quality products with reliable and fast delivery. This allows us to earn the highest level of customer trust.”
Vicem Hoàng Mai Cement targets US$79.2m in sales in 2022
07 April 2022Vietnam: Vicem Hoàng Mai Cement has announced a full-year sales target of US$79.2m for 2022, down by 1.5% year-on-year from 2021 levels. Its target net profit for the year is US$656,000, more than five times its 2020 figure. The company forecasts cement production of 1.73Mt, up by 11% from 1.56Mt, and clinker production of 1.4Mt, down by 4.1% from 1.46Mt, for the year. It plans to replace 30 – 40% of the natural gypsum currently used in cement production with synthetic gypsum. It will also increase the proportion of ash and slag in its raw materials mix.
The Chúng Khoán newspaper has reported that Vicem Hoàng Mai Cement said that it is experiencing increased costs due to high raw materials and fossil fuel prices. A coal shortage has also disrupted production.
BUA Cement’s sales and profit grow in 2021
04 April 2022Nigeria: BUA Cement recorded consolidated sales of US$619m in 2021, up by 23% year-on-year from US$504m in 2020. Bagged cement sales rose by 23% to US$618m, while bulk cement sales rose by 40% to US$1.48m. Cost of sales was US$328m, up by 19% year-on-year, and the company recorded a profit after tax of US$217m, up by 25% from US$174m in 2020.
Tanga Cement anticipates return to profitability in 2021
04 April 2022Tanzania: Tanga Cement has advised investors that it expects a ‘significant improvement’ in its results to a profit before tax in 2021, compared to a loss in 2020. The Daily News newspaper has reported that strong sales during the year contributed to the forecast result, along with a drop in finance costs due to a restructuring of debt facilities.
Tanga Cement said “The improved performance is a result of Tanga Cement’s initiative to optimise the sales, logistics and distribution, as well as its continued cost optimisation initiative.” It added “The company has been able to achieve this despite the challenging global economic and operating environment conditions.”
Anhui Conch records decline in 2021 sales and profit
28 March 2022China: Anhui Conch recorded a 4.7% year-on-year decline in its consolidated sales to US$26.4bn in 2021 from US$27.7bn in 2020. Its net profit was US$5.23bn, down by 5.3% from US$5.52bn. Anhui Conch attributed the decline to decreased cement demand. Its fuel and power costs increased by 30% in 2021. The producer forecast continued low market demand and high raw material and energy costs for the duration of 2022.
During the reporting period the group’s cement sales volumes fell by 9.8% to 409Mt. It increased its clinker, cement and concrete production capacities by 7.2Mt to 269Mt/yr, by 14.3Mt to 384Mt/yr and 10.5Mm3 to 14.7Mm3. It also installed photovoltaic power plants with a capacity of 200MW. By region, it said that market demand remained stable in East, Central and South China, although sales volumes declined slightly. However, it noted insufficient market demand in West China. The group’s export sales volumes fell by 43% but volumes and sales by its international subsidiaries grew by 7.5% and 5.3% respectively.