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Buzzi Unicem profit plummets by 96% in 2012 03 April 2013
Italy: Italian cement producer Buzzi Unicem has seen its net profit fall by 96% to Euro2m in 2012 from Euro54.8m in 2011. The company attributed the fall to a penalisation by impairment of fixed assets and deferred tax assets adjustment.
Buzzi Unicem's net sales remained stagnant at Euro2.81bn in 2012 compared to Euro2.79bn in 2011. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 4.8% to Euro455m form 434m. Net debt was reduced by 18% to Euro1.12bn from Euro1.14bn. In 2012, the group sold 27.3Mt of cement, down by 3.4% from 2011.
In Italy the company saw cement and clinker volumes decline by 20% in 2012. This was the highest annual percentage decrease since the Second World War. In Central Europe cement sales also declined. In Eastern Europe cement volumes declined in Poland, Czech Republic and Ukraine but sales increased by 15% in Russia. In the US demand 'rebounded' but Buzzi Unicem declined to provide any details for its cement business. Finally, in Mexico cement sales volumes rose by 6.2% in 2012.
For its outlook in 2013 Buzzi Unicem expects to see continued growth in the US and Russia, on-going problems in Italy and a stable situation overall in other territories.
Holcim Indonesia to build capacity by 40% to 12.5Mt/yr 02 April 2013
Indonesia: Cement producer Holcim Indonesia has announced plans to expand its production capacity by 40% to 12.5Mt/yr. Eamon J Ginley, Holcim Indonesian president director, released the news at a press conference in Jakarta reported on by the Jakarta Globe.
Ginley said that the increased output will come from the operation of Tuban 1 plant that will begin production in the second quarter of 2013, along with the acquisition of Tuban 2 plant in East Java. The capacity of both plants is estimated to be 1.7Mt/yr, adding 3.4Mt/yr to the company's current output of 9.1Mt/yr. Tuban 2 is expected to be completed in 2015. According to Ginley, Holcim Indonesia is investing more than US$800m - raised from internal cash, export credits and other loans - to boost its production capacity.
Overall in Indonesia, local and foreign producers have set aside US$6.7bn until 2017 on capacity expansion. This investment is expected to boost the country's cement production capacity by 80% to 109Mt/yr in 2017 from 60.5Mt/yr in 2012.
South Africa: Chinese cement producer Jidong Cement has secured US$86.6m loan towards building a new cement plant at Koedoeskop in the northern state of Limpopo, South Africa. The 1Mt/yr greenfield project, Mamba Cement, comprises Jidong Cement and the China-African Development Fund, Wiphold.
"A master finance agreement was entered into between Nedbank Capital, Bank of China and a special-purpose vehicle known as Mamba Cement Company," said Nedbank head of infrastructure Brett Botha. South African bank Nedbank signed an agreement with Bank of China for the project on 27 March 2013.
Double-think? Calling for reduced emissions while welcoming fewer regulations
Written by Global Cement staff
27 March 2013
The Mineral Products Association (MPA), which looks after the interests of the cement industry (and other allied industries) in the UK, has said that it welcomes a temporary tax-freeze relating to climate change announced in the UK Budget of 20 March 2013. The MPA singled out the decision to freeze the indexation of the Aggregates Levy until April 2014 and the decision to introduce the Climate Change Levy mineralogical and metallurgical exemption for energy-intensive industries such as cement and lime. Both of these moves by UK Chancellor George Osborne have been welcomed because they bring some relief to the UK cement industry and wider construction activities. MPA members make money from such activites and any potential cost that can be eliminated or delayed, even for a short time, is welcome amid the current slump that is the UK economy. This is especially true as the UK weathers the one of the longest and most severe winters for 50 years. So far, so much sense.
However, how does this reaction to the Climate Change Levy exemption tie in with the MPA's February 2013 announcement that it thinks that the UK cement industry's total CO2 emissions should be reduced by 81% by 2050? What should UK cement producers make of this? The MPA's cement industry CO2 reduction targets are certainly bold. On the face of it, they look achievable given the progress that has been made to date by the UK cement industry, although much is left to the imagination as to which areas could and should contribute most to the reduction target. The 81% reduction target includes the successful future commercial development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. It also relies on an increased proportion of renewable sources for the electricity that the cement industry will receive in 2050, something else that is totally out of the industry's control.
However, much hard work has already been done by cement companies in the UK. As in other EU countries and developed nations, total dust and toxic emissions have fallen dramatically in the UK cement industry since 1990. The country's alternative fuel substitution rate has now hit ~40%. Yet, as the MPA highlights in its document detailing the targets for 2050, much of the low-hanging fruit has already been taken. Further reduction in overall CO2 emissions will be significantly affected by both regulations and cement company progress. Cement companies can increase their consumption of 'wastes' and fit waste-heat recovery systems. Through such measures they can achieve further reductions in emissions. Some kilns have hit alternative fuel substitution rates of 100% for limited periods and examples from the near continent show that 80% alternative fuels can be the norm. However, unlike these 'bottom-up' approaches, which can be introduced at a plant in a period of months, regulations take years to evolve and come into force, often involving slow and lengthly debate by politicians, associations and consumers.
To discourage the government from seeking to impose stricter environmental regulations for the cement industry by welcoming the exemption, is the MPA undercutting its own calls to reduce CO2 emissions in the UK cement industry? From a cement producer's perspective, it looks like the MPA could hold two contradictory opinions on the same subject: that you can welcome reductions in climate regulation while also calling for stricter emissions regulations. This phenomenon was famously termed 'double think' by George Orwell in his classic novel '1984,' but the MPA's situation is far more subtle. Often the regulators and those being regulated can agree on the same target but not on how that target should be reached. The next 37 years will show whether or not this target is even possible.
Former CEO of SibCem may return as director
Written by Global Cement staff
27 March 2013
Russia: Former President and CEO of SibCem Andrey Muraviev has been nominated for the holding company's board of directors. SibCem shareholders hoped that their decision would help the Russian cement producer to recover its market share and financial performance.
Muraviev is a US-educated Russian entrepreneur, who ran SibCem since 2004 and led the company as its president for its first four years until 2008. During these years, the company brought under its umbrella all the cement assets it controls, stepped up investment in innovative technologies and made an initial public offering.
SibCem was Russia's second largest cement producer by mid-2008. Muraviev quit as CEO in August 2008 over disagreements with SibCem's Chairman Oleg Sharykin. Muraviev is currently President of Parus Capital, a Russia-dedicated investment fund which is a member of the Investor Rights Protection Association.
"I believe SibCem is now one of the most undervalued cement companies the world. I see the main reasons for this in its low transparency and poor corporate governance, lack of new assets and inefficient personnel management," commented Muraviev on his possible return to Sibir Cement. Since Muraviev left in 2008 the company has had its entire top management team and all its directors replaced. SibCem's annual revenues also declined by 75%.