Global Cement News

Nepal: The Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) has taken action against seven cement producers that have broken its standards in the current financial year that runs to mid-July 2018. The bureau found defects in product declarations made by the industries, according to the Republica newspaper. The sanctioned cement companies were MJP Cement, Ganapati Cement, Hetauda Cement, National Cement, Supreme Cement, Himalayas Cement and Nepal Ambuja Cement. The bureau has suspended the license of MJP Cement and asked the other companies not to sell their products until the quality is restored.

The cement producers were found to be breaking the quality of their products, incorrectly declaring products and failing to meet technical requirements such as the compressive strength grade mandated by the Nepal Standard Regulations. The NBSM has asked all the companies to provide it with written clarification within 15 days of the inspection.

Trinidad & Tobago: Storms and a poor market in Trinidad and Tobago have reduced Trinidad Cement’s sales in 2017. Its sales revenue fell by 9% year-on-year to US$254m in 2017 from US$280m in 2016. It made a loss of US$37.8m in 2017 compared to a profit of US$7.77m in 2016. However, the group reported that Jamaica was an exception and that it continued to display ‘robust’ economic growth that partly offset the group’s falling sales.

South Africa: Peter Nelson has resigned as the chairman of PPC. He has been replaced by Jabu Moleketi. The changeover follows the demand in late February 2018 by Prudential Investment Managers, a large shareholder of PPC, that Nelson leave the role. Sydney Mhlarhi and Dawn Earp have also resigned as non-executive directors of the cement producer.

Moleketi is the Non-Executive Chairman of Brait as well as the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), Vodacom and Harith General Partners. He was the Deputy Minister of Finance (South Africa) from 2004 to 2008 and MEC of Financial and Economic Affairs in the Gauteng Provincial Government from 1994 to 2004. During his tenure as the Deputy Minister of Finance, he was the chairperson of the Public Investment Corporation. Moleketi holds a Masters in Financial Economics from the University of London and an Advanced Management Programme from Harvard.

Other personnel changes include the appointment of Noluvuyo Mkhondo and Antony Ball to the board as non-executive directors of PPC.

Mkhondo is an investment banking and corporate finance professional, having spent time at Goldman Sachs International and Anglo American in the UK where she was responsible for mergers and acquisition execution, investment evaluation and strategic long term financial planning. During her time at Goldman Sachs and Anglo American, she executed cross-border transactions in Consumer / Retail, Healthcare, Real Estate and Metals and Mining across the UK, Africa and the Americas. Mkhondo is a Chartered Accountant by profession, having begun her career in the Audit and Advisory Financial Institutions services Team at Deloitte in Johannesburg. In addition, she has an MBA from London Business School where she was a Mo Ibrahim Scholar.

Ball is the co-founder of Value Capital Partners (VCP). Prior to that, his notable business accomplishment was the founding in 1990 and building of Brait, a South African private equity business. Ball is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Cuba: The government has allocated over US$26m to upgrade three of the country’s cement plants. Pavel Cansino Ávila, deputy director of the Cement Business Group, told the Cuban News Agency that the Santiago de Cuba plant, also known as the José Mercerón plant, will be replaced with a new plant. The new unit is scheduled to be built by 2021 and it will have a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr. The Siguaney plant and the Nuevitas plant will also be upgraded in 2018.

In 2017 the six local cement plants were unable to meet a government order of 1.57Mt of cement. Failures occurred due to lack of maintenance budget for the plants, issues due to a lack of packaging materials and logistics issues with deliveries.

Chile: Hurtado Vicuna Group has asked its minor shareholders to support a merger between its subsidiaries Cementos Bicentenario (BSA) and Cementos Polpaico. Hurtado Vicuna holds a 57.1% share in Cementos Polpaico, according to the Diario Financiero newspaper. However, two of the company’s major shareholders, Volcan and Megeve, may oppose the merger. If successful the merger would create Chile’s largest cement producer. As part of its acquisition of Cementos Polpaico, Hurtado Vicuna agreed to sell some of BSA’s assets. This potentially could involve the divestment of BSA’s 26 concrete plants.