News

LafargeHolcim has acquired Metro Mix, a leading provider of ready-mixed concrete in the Denver metropolitan area in Colorado, USA. With Metro Mix, LafargeHolcim further strengthens its position in the United States, where it is already present with operations in cement, ready-mixed concrete, aggregates and asphalt. Jan Jenisch, CEO of LafargeHolcim, said: “This is our fourth acquisition this year in line with our Strategy 2022 – ‘Building for Growth’. Metro Mix’ operations are highly complementary to our

Vulcan Materials, America’s largest producer of construction aggregates, saw its second quarter 2018 net earnings rise to US$160 million, compared to $112 million over the same period of last year. The company’s adjusted earnings from continuing operations were $1.23 per diluted share versus $0.90 per share in the prior year's second quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased 13% to $325 million. Further published Vulcan Materials’ figures reveal the firm posted 11% growth in gross profit - led by a 13%

The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has formed a strategic partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to facilitate sustainable development of the cement and concrete sectors. The partners say their agreement will also create synergies between work programmes to benefit both the GCCA and WBCSD and their respective member companies. The partnership will see the work carried out by the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) transferring from WBCSD to the

Cement and building materials producer TITAN Group posted an increased net profit of 78.3% the first half of 2018. Turnover and EBITDA declined in H1, but net profit increased to €24.8million from €13.9mn. TITAN says the net profit increase is mostly derived from foreign exchange (FX) gains and lower tax charges. FX gains amounted to €4.5mn in H1 this year compared to FX losses of €17.1mn in H1 2017. TITAN Group had a lower tax charge of €9.6mn in the first half of this year compared to €16.5mn in H1 2017

CRH, the Irish global building materials group, has completed the first phase of its share buyback programme, returning €350 million of cash to shareholders. Between 2 May and 31 July 2018, 11.4 million ordinary shares were repurchased on the London Stock Exchange at an average discount of 0.5% to the volume weighted average price over the period. Details relating to subsequent phases of CRH’s share buyback programme will be announced in due course. The completion of the first phase of its share

Demand in the UK construction market for mineral products recovered in the second quarter of 2018 after a very poor first quarter. Activity in Q1 had been hampered by the cumulative effect of exceptionally bad weather and the collapse of construction company Carillion. Despite the rebound, the Mineral Products Association’s (MPA) quarterly sales survey shows that growth in construction work remains heavily skewed towards housing and that, outside of housebuilding, construction activity remains subdued.

Smiley Monroe, a global market manufacturer of endless conveyor belts and custom cut parts for OEMs within the crushing, screening, recycling, road construction and environmental industries, is reporting strong and growing demand for its Zip Clip replacement belts. Focused on maximising uptime, the Lisburn, Northern Ireland-headquartered firm’s mechanically-fastened Zip Clip belt is supplied ready-to-fit, without the need to wait for a splice team or specialist training. As with cold or hot vulcanising

Geopipe, a US company using Machine Learning to create copies of urban reality and generate digital models, has won the 'Best Pitch’ prize in a construction startup competition. The competition was launched in April by the venture capital unit of CEMEX and challenged startups in construction technology (Constructech) to lead innovation in the sector. Entrants competed to gain access to CEMEX Ventures’ investment portfolio. They were evaluated on criteria including the level of innovation, the escalating

United Plant, a UK engineering company providing on-site maintenance and support to customers including quarries, has revised its Health & Safety policy as part of its commitment towards a 'zero harm' working environment. The firm says the H&S policy has been updated using industry best practice to help maintain the safety and well-being of United Plant employees, meet the needs and objectives of its customers, and to protect the environment in which it works. The new policy focuses on a number of core

The materials processing division of Terex Corporation posted second quarter 2018 sales of US$319million, an increase of 14% on Q2 last year. Terex said the growth was driven by consistent execution and the increasing global demand for materials processing products generated by broad-based economic growth and construction activity. Backlog for the segment at the end of Q2 was US$393mn, up 75% versus last year. It added that the materials processing business segment was a strong contributor to overall com

HeidelbergCement has posted strong second quarter results and says it expects to see continuing growth in its northern European, Australian and north American businesses. The cement and aggregates manufacturing heavyweight says that continuing positive market dynamics enabled "robust" sales volume growth in all its business lines in Q2 2018. Group revenue rose by 4% to €4.8billion (compared with €4.6bn in Q2 2017), while profit for the period increased by 8% to €429million (previous year: €397mn).

Indian iron ore producer Geomin Industries is said to be so impressed with the Volvo EC200D excavator’s fuel efficiency and productivity that the company is planning to convert its fleet of earthmoving equipment to an all-Volvo one. In 2017, India produced 210 million tonnes of iron ore, up 9% from the previous year, fuelled in part by the country’s push for infrastructure development. To meet growing demand, Indian iron ore producer Geomin Industries is relying on a Volvo EC200D excavator to help

Caterpillar has completed the delivery of its 50,000th articulated truck from its Peterlee, County Durham, North-East England, manufacturing facility. Since the start of Cat branded articulated truck manufacturing in 1985, Caterpillar has become one of industry leaders in articulated truck design. “The articulated truck has been a key member of Caterpillar’s core product line since it was developed in Peterlee, which has always been its proud home. I thank the entire team for their focus and dedication to

The Concrete Centre has backed a call from the UK parliamentary environmental audit committee for the introduction of tougher rules to ensure homes can deal with extreme heat.

A spokesperson for the Central London-based Centre, which is part of the Mineral Products Association and a supplier of material, design and construction guidance to the UK’s concrete and masonry industries, said: “The Environmental Audit Committee warns of 7,000 heat-related deaths every year in the UK by 2050 and also complains a