News

Ireland-based Kingspan's trading profits approached €112 million (US$127.56 million) for the first six months of 2015 after a 61% yearly hike.

The building insulation company's revenues, which totalled to €1.24 billion, experienced an almost 40% gain.

The UK and the US, accounting for 50% of the company’s yearly revenues, were among locations which demonstrated constant rebounds.

A 61% growth was seen in the profit of the main area of insulated panels, where sales went up 43%.

CEO Gene Murtagh s

FLSmidth & Co has released its interim report for 1 January to 30 June, 2015.

The main conclusions of the report are that the outlook for the global mining industry has deteriorated in recent weeks, which has had an adverse impact on management's assessment of business risks and earnings in 2015, and as a consequence the full-year EBITA (earnings before amortisation and impairment of intangible assets) margin guidance is lowered to 7-8% (previously 9-10%).

The adjusted EBITA margin in Q2 was 9.2% (rep

Case Construction Equipment has been awarded with the Poznan International Fair Gold Medal at Intermasz 2015, Poland’s largest exhibition of construction machinery, vehicles and specialised equipment for the infrastructure sector.
The award was conferred for the new C Series of motor graders said to have taken centre stage on the Case stand during the 6-9 May 2015 show.
The Gold Medal and the Diploma were handed over to Robert Wrona, Case business manager for Poland & the Baltic States, during the offici

Iran cement production in the four months of the 2015/16 calendar year (starting 21 March 2015) totalled 20.89mn tonnes, says Abdolreza Sheikhan, secretary of the Iranian Cement Industry Employers. Exports during the same period reached 5.17 million tonnes. For the fourth month (starting 23 July), Iran produced 5.26 million tonnes and exported 653,999 tonnes. Total production and exports in 2014/15 were 66.4 million tonnes and 18.9 million tonnes respectively.

By 2017, a new production line will be completed by South Valley Cement Company (SVCE) in Egypt that will have an annual capacity of 1.5mn tonnes. Construction work on the new line began in July 2015, and approval for the line has been secured by SVCE from the Industrial Development Authority (IDA). SVCE will invest EGP 1.50bn (EUR 168.31mn USD 191.69mn) in the project.

US cement consumption is expected to grow through 2016 and beyond, according to research by Texas-based independent market intelligence firm Industrial Info Resources.

Apparent US consumption of Portland and masonry cement increased 9% to 89.1 million tons in 2014, according to the US Geological Survey.

The Portland Cement Association projects US Portland cement consumption will increase this year by 7.5% and continue to grow in 2016 by 7.9%.

As such, Industrial Info is tracking 119 active US cem

LafargeHolcim has completed its Tuban project in Indonesia with the official opening of the second kiln line at the cement plant. The new plant will allow LafargeHolcim to tap into key developing markets in Indonesia’s East Java Province. The plant’s coastal location and jetty provides the Group with the flexibility to ship products to other important interisland markets including Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

With the completion of the project, the construction of which was launched in 2011, Lafarg

An aerated concrete plant is set to be built in the Vyselkovsky district of Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. The €4.24 million (RUB 305 million) project will see the plant located on a 90,000m² plot. Around 90,000m³ of wall blocks will be produced each year. It will take eight years to build the facility, with the pay-back period expected to be nearly six years. Investors are being sought for the project, which will create 54 new jobs.

Cimpor, the Portuguese cement group, recorded losses of €12.8 million at the end of H1 2015. While group turnover rose by 4.8% to €1.302 billion, the volume of cement and clinker sold was down by 5.7% to 14 million tonnes. The sales in the Brazilian market alone were down by 16.1% to €474.4 million.

Seeing Machines Ltd (SML) is reported to be in advanced negotiations with Caterpillar for the US construction equipment manufacturing giant to take over responsibility for manufacturing, marketing and sales of Seeing Machines' existing DSS rugged off-road product.

A company focus on operator monitoring and intervention sensing technologies and services, SML told Nasdaq reporters that it will make a further announcement as and when the negotiations are concluded.

The talks represent phase four of the a

China's Yantai Baoqiao Jinhong has signed an MoU with the province of Punjab, Pakistan to build a new environmentally friendly cement plant in the Salt Range for US$350 million. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif says the agreement would not only create jobs but also facilitate technology transfer.

Holcim Indonesia has secured a USD 5.50bn (EUR 4.95bn) project from Jakarta authorities to fix and maintain roads in Jakarta. The Jakarta Post reports that the two-stage project will be utilising a fast-drying formula concrete called SpeedCrete. The 200km-long Transjakarta bus lanes will be included in the first stage of the contract's execution. Meanwhile, the second agreement will cover route maintenance in East Jakarta on Kebon Nanas-Ahmad Yani intersection, North Jakarta in Marunda and Central Jakarta a

Swedish Green Party MPs have called on the country’s government to ensure the protection of the Ojnareskogen nature area in northern Gotland amid plans to quarry the site’s limestone.

The views of Carl Schlyter and Annika Lillemets comes as the Swedish government is to announce whether to protect Ojnareskogen no later than on 31 August 2015. Finnish minerals company Nordkalk wants to quarry limestone in the area, but some fear quarrying will have negative consequences on the area.

Sweden has committe