News

A total of 68,560 units of Ras Al Khaimah Cement (RAK Cement) shares have been repurchased by the company for AED 0.83 per share (US$0.23).

The cement company plans to buy a remaining 45.6 million shares as part of its buy-back programme.

The repurchase has bumped RAK Cement's total number of treasury shares to 10.29 million.

The Spanish construction company FCC has ruled out a potential sale of its 77.9% stake of cement company Cementos Portland Valderrivas, as suggested by Citi.

Citi recently announced that FCC was planning to sell its cement division within the next two years. This would be a necessary step in FCC's development as its corporate debt amounts to €1.36 billion, Citi pointed out.

The company also suggested that a quick sale at a reasonable price would be well received by the financial markets.

Citi exp

The UK Mineral Products Association (MPA) is launching a new publication, Dimension Stone – an Essential UK Industry.

MPA says that dimension stone producers are economically and culturally significant, producing 1 million tonnes of high value stone/year.

Dimension stone is used widely in new construction but is also of key importance to heritage assets and local distinctiveness.

CRH Concrete, the Danish subsidiary of the Irish group CRH, wants to continue expanding through acquisitions and is planning new acquisitions, according to Claus Bering, its managing director, who is also chairman of trade organisation the Danish Construction Association.

The company is interested in both the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian markets.

Bering says that CRH Concrete is also interested in related operations.

Bell Equipment UK has completed a major deal with Hanson for the supply of 15 machines, representing the first time that the company has used Bell articulated dump trucks and wheeled loaders.

The order has seen two ADTs and 13 wheeled loaders deployed at Hanson sites producing aggregates (crushed rock and sand and gravel), asphalt, cement, concrete and building products.

A decision to install an automated external defibrillator (AED) and the prompt actions of a colleague have saved the life of a contractor who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest at a site in Coatbridge, western Scotland.

Having started work at the site shared by Patersons Quarries and Gartsherrie Engineering, the contractor, in his early 50s, had complained to a colleague on the day of the incident of feeling unwell, then suddenly collapsed.

The AED, a Powerheart G3 from Cardiac Science, was used within

Shareholders in LafargeHolcim are to receive an exceptional dividend of one share for every 20 held.

This follows completion of the merger to create LafargeHolcim, and the decision was taken at an extraordinary general meeting in May when the group’s shareholders voted in favour of an authorised share capital increase, based on which the distribution of the scrip dividend is authorised.

For the purpose of the scrip dividend, 28,870,252 new LafargeHolcim shares, representing 5% of the LafargeHolcim sha

Alex Car has been unveiled as the Essroc Italcementi Group’s (EIG) new chief executive. Having previously served as senior vice president of cement sales and marketing and general manager of construction materials at Essroc, Car succeeds Francesco Carantani, who will be undertaking new duties within the company.

The Lukyanovsky Mining and Processing Plant in Russia plans to up production to 200,000tonnes of quartz sand/year for the glass industry.

In 2016, the company plans to begin the construction of a dry mixes plant, raise the output of quartz sand to 500,000tonnes and increase staff numbers to 150 workers.

Mexican construction holding Grupo de Oro and cement company Holcim Lafarge Mexico have consolidated their strategic partnership with the launch of the new Holcim Fuerte cement.

The development of the new product started in 2012 and has been proved in different testing projects before starting its commercialisation.

Holcim Fuerte claims the new product offers a better performance, longer durability, 50% less cracks and high-quality constructions.

The new cement is aimed to lay foundations and rein

In the first half of 2015, Tunisia’s Carthage Cement posted turnover down nearly 11% to TND 90.66 million (€41.66 million/US$46.59 million).

The group recorded a net loss of TND 25.35 million, after a loss of TND 20.35 million one year earlier.

The pre-tax profit of Vietnam Cement Industry (Vicem) increased year-on-year from VND 1 trillion (€39.24 million/US$44.02 million) to VND 1.34 trillion in January-June 2015.

Member unit Vicem Hoang Mai reported post-tax profits of VND 30 billion, higher than VND 24.7 billion booked in January-June 2014, while net revenue from sales and service supply amounted to VND 499 billion in April-June 2015.

Meanwhile, the post-tax profit of Vicem Ha Tien 1 increased from VND 13 billion to VND 397 billion during

In the 2015 financial year, the net earnings of Pakistan-based Fauji Cement Company (FCCL) rose by 56.7% year-on-year to PKR 4.10 billion (€35.29 million/US$39.46 million) from PKR 2.6 billion due to a decline in finance costs and higher margins.

The revenues of the firm also rose 6.3% year-on-year to PKR 18.6 billion from PKR 17.5 billion.

The cement maker is a subsidiary of Fauji Group.