Global Cement News

Portugal: Proença de Carvalho has resigned as the president of Cimpor. Three independent directors of the cement producer have also resigned, according to the Jornal de Negócios. The departures follow OYAK Cement’s acquisition of Cimpor’s assets in Portugal and Cape Verde from Brazil’s InterCement.

Egypt: Noha Bakr has been appointed as the executive director of the Cement Division at the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI). Bakr, who holds a PhD in International Relations and International Organisations, was educated at the American University in Cairo and at Cairo University, according to Arab Finance. He has held several government posts, including working as the Assistant to the Minister of International Cooperation, in charge of International Economic Cooperation with Canada and the Americas.

The cement division of the FEI was established in 2013 to develop cement production in Egypt. The division is a subsidiary of the Chamber of Building Materials at the Federation of Egyptian Industries.

US: Anne Lloyd has been appointed as a non-executive director of James Hardie. Lloyd previously worked as chief financial officer (CFO) of Martin Marietta Materials for over 12 years from June 2005 until her retirement in August 2017.

She joined Martin Marietta in 1998 as Vice President and Controller and was promoted to Chief Accounting Officer in 1999. She was subsequently appointed Treasurer (2006 - 2013) and promoted to Executive Vice President in 2009. Earlier in her career, Ms Lloyd spent 14 years with Ernst & Young, latterly as a senior manager and client service executive for the natural resources, mining, insurance and healthcare industries.

US: Dorothy M Ables has been appointed to the board of directors of Martin Marietta Materials. With Ables’ appointment, the Martin Marietta board comprises 10 directors, four of whom have joined since 2016. She will serve on Martin Marietta’s Audit Committee.

Ables, aged 60 years, brings financial and operational experience to the Martin Marietta board. Most recently, she served as Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Spectra Energy from 2008 until her retirement in early 2017, completing a career of over 30 years at Spectra Energy and its predecessor companies. As CAO, Ables was responsible for information technology, human resources, support services and community relations. Prior to that, she held roles as Vice President of Audit Services and as Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer for Spectra, and as Senior Vice President and chief financial officer (CFO) for Duke Energy Gas Transmission. Ables began her career in the audit department of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co, a predecessor of KPMG.

Ables currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Cabot Oil & Gas, where she is on the Audit and Compensation Committees. She also sits on the board of Houston Methodist Hospital Foundation. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting.

France: Vicat’s cement sales rose by 1.8% year-on-year to Euro948m in the first nine months of 2018 from Euro932m in the same period in 2017. At constant scope and exchange rates it rose by 10.2%. Overall sales grew by 1.4% to Euro1.95bn from Euro1.92bn. The group’s sales volumes of cement rose by 3.1% to 17.4Mt from 16.9Mt.

“The group achieved healthy increases over the period in all our territories, except Switzerland and Egypt,” said the group’s chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Guy Sidos. “In the third quarter, business trends held up well, despite a downturn in the economic and industry environment in Turkey, which was hit by the sharp depreciation in its currency. The acquisition of Ciplan in Brazil, a country with tremendous potential, reinforces Vicat’s strategy of sustainable growth, leveraging its high-quality assets and strong regional positions to generate cash flow.”