Global Cement News

Mexico: Elementia has appointed María de Lourdes Barajas Flores as its chief financial officer (CFO). She succeeds Juan Francisco Sanchez Kramer who will leave the company to, “pursue new personal and professional opportunities.” Barajas Flores was the Director of Administration and Finance for the company’s cement division. Iris Josselin Fernandez Cruz, Elementia’s Head of Corporate Treasury will take over the responsibilities of the Investor Relations area.

Italy: Good performance in the US has helped Buzzi Unicem hold sales steady in the first half of 2020 despite falling sales volumes of cement, particularly in Italy and Eastern Europe, as the coronavirus pandemic spread. The group’s net sales remained stable at Euro1.52bn. Its cement sales volumes fell by 3.4% year-on-year to 13.4Mt from 13.9Mt in the same period in 2019. Concrete sales volumes decreased by 6.3% to 5.46Mm³ from 5.83Mm³. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 8.8% to Euro314m from Euro289m. The company said that the decline in sales volumes was counteracted by growing prices and lowered production costs.

In its outlook the group said, “The outlines of the pandemic, which in some countries has not yet reached the phase of controlled circulation, as well as the intensity of global recession and the demand for building materials may be characterized by further sudden developments in the coming months. Visibility for the second half of the year continues to be very limited and our forecasts are based on a scenario of gradual mitigation of the infections and related restrictions on economic activity, in the geographical areas where the group operates.” It added that it expected its recurring EBTIDA to possibly fall by 5 – 10% year-on-year in 2020.

Namibia: The Namibian Competition Commission has blocked the sale of Ohorongo Cement to China-based West China Cement on the grounds that it would ‘substantially’ reduce competition in the cement market. It warned that it could lead to coordination between Ohorongo Cement and Whale Rock Cement. The commission added that, “no concrete benefit would outweigh the detrimental effects that will result from the implementation of the proposed merger”.

West China Cement agreed to buy a majority stake in the cement company for US$104m from Germany-based Schwenk Zement subsidiary Schwenk Namibia in January 2020. Previously, Singaporean authorities stopped the sale of Schwenk Namibia to Singaporean-based International Cement Group (ICG) in September 2019 due to the latter’s inability to cover the losses of the Namibian company.

Niger: The government has approved a project by Kao Cement to spend US$287m on a plant in the Tahoua region. The scheme is expected to create over 300 jobs, according to Agence Ecofin. Kao Cement is based in Niamey. A previous government scheme in 2017 looked for investors to build a 0.95Mt/yr cement plant in Kao.

Egypt: Alexandria Portland Cement’s sales fell by 10% year-on-year to US$63.2m in the first half of 2020 from US$63.2m in the same period in 2019. Its net loss grew by 26% to US$13.2m from US$10.6m, according to Mubasher. The company is a subsidiary of Greece-based Titan Group.