New Zealand: Fletcher Building is expecting to declare lower earnings in the half year to 31 December 2018 due to a regional slowdown, particularly in Australia. Its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the six month period was around 10% lower than the same period of the 2017-2018 financial year. It is expected to be in the range of US$432-467m.

In a report Fletcher Building said, “While the company continues to target a result at the top end of this range, it is prudent at this stage in the year to highlight that the 2019 financial year EBIT will be impacted by the outage at the Golden Bay Cement plant, the slowdown in the Australian residential market and the reduction in land development earnings compared to last year.”

Russia: Eurocement has signed a deal to buy 1000 gas-powered vehicles from Kamaz. The framework agreement will run until 2022. It was signed at the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi. No value for the deal has been disclosed.

The cement producer has also signed a memorandum of cooperation with Rosavtodor, the Federal Roads Agency, to increase the use of concrete in road construction. The organisations will hold a discussion on regulatory standards for the use of mineral binders in road construction and Rosavtodor will consider a pilot project.

India: KCP has commenced commercial cement at the new 1.7Mt/yr line at its Muktyala plant in Andhra Pradesh. With this expansion, the total capacity of the plant has reached 4.3Mt/yr. The company has also started up its 0.5Mt/yr grinding plant project in Naidupeta, Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh.

Italy: Cementir Holding’s sales revenue fell by 4.2% in 2018 on a like-for-like basis due to poor performance in Egypt and Norway. Military operations in the Sinai impacted production in Egypt between February and May 2018 and bad weather in Norway affected the first quarter. However, it noted good results in Malaysia, Belgium and China.

On an adjusted basis its revenue rose by 4.9% to Euro1.2bn from Euro1.14bn. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 7.1% to Euro239m from Euro223m. Grey and white cement sales volumes fell by 4.4% to 9.8Mt from 10.3Mt. Ready-mixed concrete volumes fell slightly to 4.9Mm³.