News

Finnish construction and infrastructure company Lemminkäinen's net sales rose to €321.5 million in the first quarter of 2014 from €306.4 million in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. The company's operating result was €-17 million compared to €-38.2 million year-on-year or -5.3% of the net sales.

German company Amberger Kaolinwerke (AKW), a subsidiary of Quarzwerke,, is investing €25 million in a new sand and gravel plant in Schnaittenbach and €15 million in Hirschau in the next few years.

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) predicts that annual demand for cement in India will increase by 2.7 times to between 550 million tonnes and 600 million tonnes by 2025. This is attributed to investments in power, road and irrigation projects. CII said that the industry will need to invest close to INR 3 trillion (€35.86 billion/US$49.74 billion) by 2025 to increase clinker capacity by 240 million tonnes to 270 million tonnes/year and cement capacity by 330 million tonnes to 380 million tonnes/y

Cemex Latam, the Latin American subsidiary of Mexican cement group Cemex, registered net profits of US$55 million (€39.82 million) in the first quarter of 2014, which is 111.5% more than the same period a year ago.
Cemex Latam is headquartered in Colombia, with operations in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Brazil.

The proposed merger of the Swiss cement producer Holcim and its French competitor Lafarge is expected to bring about cost savings amounting to €1.4 billion/year it has been claimed. In this way, the competitiveness of the resulting entity will be strengthened. Holcim and Lafarge also plan to sell off plants and business segments that have become unprofitable due to the lower demand for construction materials as a result of the financial crisis.

Sandvik Construction’s new distributor for Rammer and Bretec throughout Indonesia is PT Kasana Teknindo Gemilang.

The UK’s Mineral Products Association’s (MPA) results for Q1 2014 indicate significant increases over the same period of 2013, albeit lower than the last quarter of 2013. Aggregates and asphalt sales volumes were about 17% higher and ready mixed concrete sales 5% up in Q1 2014. These strong volumes need to be put in the context that Q1 volumes in 2013 were historically low and markets had yet to see the benefits of the sharp pick up in housing activity from April 2013. Q1 2014 volumes are in fact slightly l

Edge Innovate has appointed Porter Group as the exclusive dealer for Edge equipment in New Zealand. Founded in 1945, Porter Group is a name that is synonymous with the construction equipment industry within New Zealand, and its business has grown over the years to become New Zealand’s largest supplier of new and used equipment through its equipment sales and rental divisions.

Unicem, the French national union of quarries and construction materials, says that sales of ready-mixed concrete rose by 5.4% during the first quarter of 2014, while sales of aggregates rose by 10.4%.

consolidated net sales reached US$3.6 billion (€2.6 billion) during the first quarter of 2014, an increase of 8% versus the comparable period in 2013. This was due to higher prices of products in local currency terms in most of our operations as well as higher volumes in all our regions. Operating EBITDA increased by 3% during the quarter to $535 million versus the same period in 2013 while operating earnings before other expenses, net, in the first quarter increased by 12% to $268 million.

In a company announcement to the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (No. 08-2014, 30 April 2014) the European Court of Justice has ruled that the penalty imposed on FLSmidth & Co in March 2012 is upheld at €14.45 million.

On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of HeidelbergCement’s stock exchange listing, Dr Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board, started the floor trading at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany in the traditional way by ringing the opening bell. Mrs Hauke Stars, a member of the managing board of Deutsche Börse; employees of the Investor Relations and Treasury Departments of HeidelbergCement as well as members of the press were invited by Deutsche Börse to participate at the ceremony.