Global Cement News

Germany: Poor weather in the US and rising energy prices have reduced HeidelbergCement’s earnings so far in 2018. Its result from current operations before depreciation and amortisation (RCOBD) fell by 7% year-on-year to Euro2.23bn in the first nine months of 2018 from Euro2.41bn in the same period in 2017. Despite this, its revenue rose by 3% to Euro13.4bn from Euro13bn and its sales volumes of cement grew by 4% to 97Mt from 93.5Mt. By region, revenue rose in all regions except for North America, but RCOBD fell in Western and Southern Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

“Improved financial costs and lower taxes overcompensated weaker than expected results from current operations due to significant rainfalls in our core markets in the USA as well as a higher than planned energy cost inflation,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. He added that, “Due to the weaker operational development, we had to partially adapt our outlook for 2018. As a countermeasure we have initiated an action plan with focus on three levers: portfolio optimisation, operational excellence as well as cash flow and shareholder return.”

Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s net sales rose remained stable at Euro2.14bn in the first nine months of 2018 compared to Euro2.13bn in the same period in 2017. Its cement sales volumes grew by 3.1% to 20.9Mt from 20.3Mt. Its market in the US was strongly affected by unprecedented rainfall, notably in September 2018, and activity in Ukraine was also lower. Net sales in the US dropped by 61% year-on-year to Euro791m in the third quarter of 2018 and sales in Ukraine decreased by 9.7% to Euro63.6m. Sales rose in most other areas, with an emphasis on growth in Italy and Europe.

Greece: Titan Group’s turnover fell by 3.7% year-on-year to Euro1.10bn in the first nine months of 2018 from Euro1.14bn in the same period in 2017. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 8.2% to Euro196m from Euro215m. It attributed this to wet weather on the eastern seaboard of the US. It said that production ‘challenges’ at the group’s Florida operations forced it to increase imports to its terminal at Tampa to meet customer demand, although this lowered its margins.

US: LafargeHolcim plans to build three wind turbines at its Paulding cement plant in Ohio to power the unit. Jamie M Gentoo, chief executive officer (CEO) of US cement operations, said that using distributed wind energy at the plant would be a first for the company in North America.

Constructing turbines will begin in December 2018 in partnership with One Energy. The three Paulding turbines are expected to generate more than 12MkWh/yr and should eliminate the equivalent of more than 9000t/yr of CO₂.

As part of a community outreach project in conjunction with the turbine build, LafargeHolcim will create three US$5000 Megawatt Scholarships (one per turbine for a total of US$15,000/yr) to be awarded each year the turbines are in operation. The Megawatt Scholarships will be awarded annually to local high school graduates pursuing a two-year or four- year STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) degree. Additionally, One Energy will pay US$27,000/yr annually in local property taxes.

Egypt: The Egyptian Chemical Industries Company (Kima) plans to sell the land belonging to National Cement within the next year. Chief executive officer (CEO) Emad el-Din Mostafa said that the bankrupt cement producer owns over 300 hectares of land, according to Arab Finance. Selling the assets is part of the Ministry of Public Business Sector’s strategy to pay the former cement producer’s debts including worker salaries. The sale is expected to generate up to US$39m.