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Cement sales and production fall in Puerto Rico 11 August 2017
Puerto Rico: Cement sales in Puerto Rico experienced a year-on-year decline of 0.5% in July 2017, following two months of increases. This fall was chiefly attributed to the lack of public investments in infrastructure and a decline in residential property development projects. Cement production fell by 11% in July 2017, following a rise of 10% in June 2017.
Misr Beni Suef net profit slumps in first half 11 August 2017
Egypt: Misr Beni Suef Cement made a net profit of US$3.13m in the first half of 2017, compared to a net profit of US$5.32m in the same period of 2016. This represents a 41% fall year-on-year.
Birla to invest US$375m in new plant at Mukutban 10 August 2017
India: Birla Corporation is considering a US$375m investment in a greenfield cement plant at Mukutban, Maharashtra. Harsh V Lodha, the group’s chairman, stated that the decision would be put before the board for approval.
Speaking about the company’s recent acquisition of Reliance Cement, Lodha added, “Reliance’s plants did not have a captive power plant, so we are in the process of setting up a waste heat recovery system at a cost of US$19.5m.” The company is also studying the feasibility of a captive thermal power plant there. Lodha also said that demand for cement is rising in Central India and no new capacity was coming up in the region, which he said bodes well for the company’s new assets.
FLSmidth makes further gains in first half of 2017 10 August 2017
Denmark: Cement plant manufacturer FLSmidth has seen its revenue increase by 11% year-on-year in the first half of 2017, as its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 25%. The group highlighted that strong momentum in orders from service activities continued along with a higher operating profit, despite one-off costs. Revenues were Euro1.21bn, while cement sector revenues were Euro140m.
"We are pleased to report solid progress towards our key performance indicator targets. The group's service activities continue to benefit from the firming global growth and improvement in confidence. With the second quarter marking the fourth consecutive quarter of strong aftermarket momentum, especially in mining, the service business is stabilising at a higher level," said CEO Thomas Schulz.
Sanghi increases net profit by a third 10 August 2017
India: Sanghi Industries has reported a rise of 33% in net profit for the first quarter of the 2018 financial year, the period from 1 April 2017 to 30 June 2017. The company’s net profit stood at US$4.9m, a 32% rise compared to the US$3.7m it made in the first quarter of the prior fiscal year. Its total income rose by 4% to US$49.2m, compared to US$47.2m a year earlier.
Alok Sanghi, Director, Sanghi Industries said, “There has been improvement in price realisation in the first quarter of the 2018 fiscal year, which has improved our margins. However, we were impacted due to higher fuel and diesel costs, which in turn affected our logistics costs. Moving further, we expect very good cement demand in the 2018 fiscal year due to infrastructure projects announced by the government.”