Auctions, Used Equipment, Rental & Finance

Saudi Arabia's cement company, Saudi Cement has garnered SAR 303 million (€76.41 million US$80.79 million) in net profits in the January-March 2015 quarter, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.9% from SAR 286 million registered in the preceding year.

The increase in profitability is attributed to the higher earnings generated from export sales.

India-based ACC Cement saw its revenue sink to INR 28.85bn (€434.85 million/US$463 million) in quarter ended 31 March, 2015, down from revenue clocked in quarter ended 31 march 2014 which was INR 29.67 billion.

Consequently, the company also experienced a 41% slump in its profit for quarter ended 31 March 2015.

As such, the profit went down to INR 2.36 billion from INR 3.99 billion previously. Drops in the figures were highly attributed to declining sales with only 5.82 million tonnes of cement sold

Mexican construction materials group Cemex will move offices in Guadalajara, making room for a commercial/residential development that will have over 2,000 flats, shops and a hotel with 194 rooms on 15 floors.

The development will have 269 shops and cost a total of MXN 2.20 billion (€135.03 million/US$147.64 million).

A date has not been set for the project to start, and Cemex has yet to find new premises for its personnel.

The Portuguese holding company Semapa, with interests in the cement and pulp and paper business, is set to restructure the share capital by reducing it from €118.33 million (US$129.38/million) to €106.51 million with the cancellation of 11.8 million shares.

After its approval at a shareholders' meeting the capital will be made up by 106.51 million nominative shares with a single value of €1.

The Portuguese cement group Secil recorded in 2014 a turnover of €429.60 million (US$469.72 million) which meant a growth by 5% compared to the figures posted in 2013.

The company benefited from the exports of cement and clinker from Portugal.

In turn the unit in Tunisia recorded a growth by 14.8% compared to 2013. Ebitda of the cement business stood at €74.4 million which meant a growth by 18.4%.

The operating results stood at €24.4 million which compares to €10.7 million on the previous year.

Romanian bricks producer Brikston Construction Solutions plans to pay its minority shareholders almost RON 12 million (€2.72 million/US$2.92 million) to delist the company from RASDAQ market.

The company had a turnover of RON 70.2 million in 2014, down 3% from previous year, and a gross profit of RON 963,000, down from RON 1.5 million in 2013.

In order to settle bank debt, finance possible investment in new projects and raise working capital, Prosperity International Holdings (HK) Limited (Prosperity International) aims to generate CNY 484.10 million (€72.53 million/US$78.12 million) in net proceeds from the disposal of a 15% shareholding worth CNY 580.80 million in Anhui Chaodong Cement Co Ltd (Chaodong Cement).
Prosperity International will likely gain around HKD 339.50 million from the share sale. The shares will be purchased by Anhui Xinli I

Nigeria's cement company, Ashaka Cement has garnered NGN 21.13 billion (€98.47 million/US$106.05 million) in revenue in 2014, down 2.58% year-on-year. Its profit before tax, on the other hand, surged 84.5% to NGN 5.25 billion.

Brazilian cement company Votorantim Cimentos has announced plans to invest a further BRL 5 billion (€1.46 billion/US$1.57 billion) between 2015 and 2018, following the conclusion of its BRL 10 billion investment plan between 2007 and 2014.
The majority of the new funds will go to the construction of new factories in Brazil, with a view to the long term cement market which is expected to recover from the current reduction in consumption.
The new investment plan also covers further expansion of operations a