Global Cement News

Uganda: Tororo Cement and Hima Cement have blamed falling production on reduced electricity supplies. Morgan Gagranihe, the executive director of Tororo Cement, said that production from the company’s plant at Tororo had fallen by half to 0.6Mt/yr from 1.2Mt/yr, according to the Daily Monitor newspaper. However, local power company Umeme has rejected the claims. It suggested instead that the cement producers were prioritising cement production for large-scale customers.

Argentina: Cement despatches grew by 13% year-on-year to 3.08Mt in the first three months of 2018 from 2.72Mt in the same period in 2016. The Asociación de Fabricantes de Cemento Portland (AFCP) forecasts that despatches will rise by 6% to 12.9Mt in 2018.

India: Sagar Cements has acquired two mini hydroelectric power plants from Sagar Power in Andhra Pradesh. One has a capacity of 4.3MW located at Guntur Branch Canal, Narasaraopet, Guntur District and the other has a capacity of 4MW located at Lock-in-sula, Atmakur, Kurnool District. No amount for the transaction has been disclosed. The cement producer operates two integrated cement plants and one grinding plant.

India: Binani Industries says it has filed an application to stop the insolvency process for its subsidiary Binani Cement. It received an offer from UltraTech Cement to buy its majority stake in the cement producer in late March 2018, according to the Press Trust of India. However, the deal was subject to the ending of insolvency proceedings against Binani Cement whose Credit of Creditors (COC) led by Bank of Baroda had previously approved a bid from Dalmia Bharat.

Meanwhile, Rajputana Properties, a subsidiary of Dalmia Bharat, has asked the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) to stay the settlement process considered by Binani Cement’s CoC. However the NCLAT refused the request. Previously the NCLAT asked the companies trying to buy Binani Cement to ‘amicably’ settle the dispute.

Ireland: The Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommends that investors vote against a proposed Euro10m pay rise for executives at CRH. The building materials company is set to increase executive pay at its annual general meeting in late April 2018, according to the Irish Times newspaper. ISS recommends that shareholders vote against a remuneration report for several reasons including CRH's failure to set out targets for its managers and the group's proposal to give its finance director a 10% rise.

In 2017, CRH paid its chief executive officer Albert Manifold a Euro3.12m bonus, Euro2.15m salary and pension and Euro3.4m in share options. His pay was 13% less than in 2016. Finance director Senan Murphy's salary and pension was Euro0.91m and he received a Euro1m bonus. Former group transformation director Maeve Carton, who left the role in August 2017, was paid Euro2.67m.

CRH’s remuneration report says the annual bonus payments are based on a combination of financial targets and ‘personal strategic goals.’ It plans to reveal more details in 2019 once it is no longer commercially sensitive. It defended Murphy's proposed pay rise as he was paid below the market rate when he became financial director in 2016.