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Europe: On 8 May 2015, Lafarge and Holcim secured support from Holcim shareholders for their proposed merger. Representing around 72% of Holcim's share capital, the 738 shareholders attending the Extraordinary General Meeting of Holcim Ltd approved all motions proposed by the board of directors.
"Holcim shareholders have voted for a joint future with Lafarge with an overwhelming majority. With this decision, we create the opportunity for profitable and sustainable growth. Holcim and Lafarge can now take the final steps to found the world leader in the building materials sector," said Wolfgang Reitzle, currently chairman of Holcim and future co-chairman (statutory chairman).
"It is a great satisfaction that Holcim shareholders overwhelmingly gave their support to the proposed merger. This endorsement is a clear demonstration that shareholders are fully convinced of the substantial value creation potential. I am confident that Lafarge shareholders will in turn ratify this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and tender their shares, paving the way to the merger. The combined group will be a unique global champion in the building materials industry, focusing on customers and innovation, uniting the best teams in the industry. Featuring a new business model, outstanding cash flow generation capabilities and reduced capital intensity LafargeHolcim is designed to deliver superior returns to shareholders," said Bruno Lafont, currently chairman and CEO of Lafarge and future co-chairman of LafargeHolcim.
Holcim shareholders approved with a vast majority the creation of both ordinary and authorised share capital, which are necessary for the successful completion of the merger. In addition, shareholders also voted for the creation of authorised share capital in order to allow the distribution of a stock dividend to all shareholders of the new Company. The proposal to change the corporate name of Holcim Ltd to LafargeHolcim Ltd was approved as well.
The shareholders elected Bruno Lafont, Bertrand Collomb, Philippe Dauman, Paul Desmarais Jr, Oscar Fanjul, Gérard Lamarche and Nassef Sawiris to the board of directors. They will join Wolfgang Reitzle, Beat Hess, Alexander Gut, Adrian Loader, Thomas Schmidheiny, Hanne Birgitte Breinbjerg Sørensen, and Dieter Spälti, who had been elected at Holcim's ordinary General Meeting on 13 April 2015. Subject to the effective completion of the exchange offer, Anne Wade and Jürg Oleas will resign from their office as current members of the board of directors of Holcim.
India: Dalmia Cement has commissioned its 7000t/day greenfield cement plant, 5000t/day clinker plant and a coal-based power plant at Yadwad, Belagavi, Karnataka. Out of the total 40MW of power production capacity, 27MW has been commissioned and the remaining capacity will be commissioned in the future.
Nigeria: In November 2013, FLSmidth signed a number of contracts with Dangote Cement for operation and maintenance of production lines at its Ibese and Obajana cement plants in Nigeria for five years. Due to changes to market conditions, Dangote and FLSmidth have reached an agreement to end the operation and maintenance collaboration at the two plants.
The discontinuation of the operation and maintenance contracts will have no impact on FLSmidth's Group guidance for 2015. However, the demobilisation in Nigeria will have a negative impact on earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) in the customer services division in the first quarter in 2015 of US$11.1m. Additionally, the order backlog was reduced by US$102m at the end of the first quarter of 2015 as a consequence of the agreement.
CRH forecasts earnings growth of 10% 07 May 2015
Ireland: CRH has forecast earnings growth of close to 10% for the first half of the year as it reported 'modest growth' in Ireland.
CRH said that group sales for the first four months of 2015 rose by 2.5% compared with the same period of 2014. The strong performance was largely driven by positive momentum in the Americas, where the economic and business environment remained upbeat. Sales in the US rose by 8% as CRH benefited from improving construction activity. In Europe, trends are improving across CRH's main markets, but sales fell by 2%. In Ukraine, CRH said that the markets were resilient despite the political instability, but that cement volumes were below the prior year. CRH reported a 'continued recovery in market conditions' in Ireland and said that it was 'well-positioned to benefit from modest growth.'
Looking to the first six months of 2015, CRH said that it expected earnings to be 'close to 10% ahead of last year on a constant currency basis' and predicted further progress in the second half of the year with earnings again ahead of 2014. These forecasts do not take into consideration the impact of CRH's proposed acquisition of certain assets from Lafarge and Holcim for Euro6.5bn.
CRH disposed of assets worth Euro540m in the first four months of 2015, bringing total proceeds from its divestment programme to Euro900m since its inception in August 2014. CRH said that its cost-reduction programme remained on track to deliver a further Euro75m of savings in 2015, which would bring cumulative (2007 - 2015) savings to Euro2.6bn.
Pakistan/Afghanistan: Pakistan's cement exports to Afghanistan fell by 24% during the first nine months of the 2015 fiscal year due to the exit of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces and smuggling. Industry sources said that the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan is also affecting Pakistan's economy.
"Since the announcement of the exit of NATO forces, Pakistani cement exports to Afghanistan have been in decline as development work in Afghanistan has come to standstill after the exit of foreign forces, resulted in lower cement demand," according to the industry sources.
The set-up of a new cement plant in Tajikistan has also affected Pakistan's cement exports to Afghanistan. Previously, Pakistani cement was being exported to central Asian countries via Afghanistan, but the new plant in Tajikistan targets the same markets. The industry sources said that the smuggling of Iranian cement is another major factor behind the recent decline in exports to Afghanistan.
According to official statistics of All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), the cement export to Afghanistan notably fell by 24% during the first nine months of the current fiscal year. Pakistan exported 2.3Mt of cement to Afghanistan during July 2014 - April 2015 compared to 3.05Mt in corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
"We are expecting a further fall in cement exports to Afghanistan in the coming years as NATO forces were the major consumer of Pakistani cement. As per industry estimates, by the end of this fiscal year, cement exports to Afghanistan will be some 2.7Mt," said the industry sources.