News

HeidelbergCement is expecting growth in sales of cement, aggregates and ready-mixed concrete in 2016 after increasing its revenues last year, while also significantly reducing company net debt.

Revenues rose by 7% to €13.5 billion, while operating income was up by 16% to €1.8 billion. Net debt was greatly reduced in 2015 to €5.3 billion.

The German building materials giant said its sales growth forecast for 2016 is a reflection of its positive outlook for the global economy; despite increasing geopoli

Terex Materials Processing has opened its new €6.46 million (US$7.2 million) global parts facility in Dungannon, Northern Ireland.

The state-of-the-art site consists of a main office block of 957m², where a dedicated and knowledge team of parts experts are on hand to answer all parts technical and sales enquiries.

The facility has extensive warehouse capacity of 5,462m², with the addition of an external canopy of 650m² providing additional overhead storage for larger product types.

Three dock le

Ash Grove Cement Seattle has earned the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) coveted Energy Star certification.

The Energy Start recognition is for the plant’s 2015 performance in being among the top 25% of cement manufacturing facilities nationwide for energy efficiency and meeting the strict energy efficiency performance levels set by the EPA.

"Ash Grove Cement Seattle is pleased to earn EPA’s Energy Star certification in recognition of our energy efficiency efforts,” said plant manager Ca

Société des ciments de Ain el Kebira cement company has received approval to be listed on the stock exchange. In all, 11 million shares will be available in the Algerian company - with 1% going to workers. The shares will be awarded according to previously disclosed segmentations. This listing will enable the firm to raise some DZD 18 billion (US$165.06 million). As a result, it will pay back a significant part of an FNI loan.

Bamburi, the Kenya-based cement manufacturer, reported a 12 months to December 2015 year-on-year increase in group turnover from KES 36 billion (US$355.2 million) to KES 39.2 billion ($383.1 million), attributed to solid growth in the contractor and infrastructure segments.

Additionally, Bamburi’s 2015 recording year net profit of KES 5.8 billion ($56.7 million) was an increase of 50.4% on the same period of 2014.

Meanwhile, two key rivals of Bamburi, state-owned East African Portland Cement (EAPCC)

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has removed Sudan-based Atbara Cement Company from its specially designated national (SDN) list of sanctions targets in the 9 March 2016 update bulletin. Sudan has been under US sanctions since 1997, with factories being restricted in imports and exports, particularly in terms of spare parts and technologies.

Greek firm Titan Cement posted a 20.7% year-on-year rise in its 2015 revenues, a 19.2% increase in its EBITDA to €216.4 million, and a 9.1% growth in its net profits to €33.8 million. In last year's Q3, the group's revenues went up by 25.8% to €368.3 million, and its EBITDA by 46.7% to €51.2 million. Titan Cement also posted a net loss of €2.4 million, from €0.4 million profits in the same period of 2014.

In Algeria, production is back underway at the Sour El-Ghouzlane cement plant after repairs and the installation of new electro-filters to protect the environment. The plant was shut down for nearly two months, causing an acute shortage of cement in the region. Several construction projects were blocked and prices rose.

A group of leading cement makers has won a battle with the European Commission over excessive data requested by the Commission for a cartel investigation.

As part of the near-five-year-probe closed in mid-2015 due to insufficient evidence, the Commission had visited the companies and later asked them to complete a questionnaire, while suspecting them of possibly restricting imports into the EU, and divvying up markets and coordinating prices.

In 2014, companies including Lafarge, Holcim, Cemex, Heide

Cemex Holdings Philippines, the Mexican building materials giant’s Philippines subsidiary, has applied through a registration statement to the Philippines authorities to sell a minority stake in its assets in the Southeast Asian country.

The document outlining details of the planned sale has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines (Philippine SEC). Cemex Holdings Philippines assets are mainly focused on cement manufacturing.

The filing of the registration statement is

Cemex, the global building materials giant, has signed an agreement for the sale of its operations in Bangladesh and Thailand to Siam City Cement for around US$53 million.

The proceeds obtained from this transaction will be used mainly for debt reduction and for general corporate purposes, a Cemex spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added: “The closing of this agreement is subject to the satisfaction of standard conditions for this type of transactions. We currently expect to finalise this divestiture