Michelmersh Brick sells UK land

UK brick maker Michelmersh recorded an operating profit of £1.5 million (€1.8 million) in the year to 31 December, 2011 after a £500,000 (€598,000) loss last time. Turnover was up 4% to £24.3 million as the company sold 70 million bricks at an improved average price of £345/1,000 compared to £330 in 2010. Chairman Eric Gadsden said: “The market is not only divided geographically, but also between ‘stock’ bricks required for appearance, (often driven by planning conditions), and ‘wire-cut’ bricks which are i

Working in partnership Cemex and the RSPB have transformed 1,000 hectares of former quarry sites into grassland, woodland, heathland and more to provide much needed habitat for some of the UK’s most threatened species. Originally planned to take a decade, the partnership has achieved its target in just eight years, with sites already providing homes to almost 50 species of birds that conservationists have identified as at risk of being lost in the UK.

Indian billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla is reported to have said he is open to buying overseas cement factories in a deal similar to his US$5.8 billion (€4.65) acquisition of aluminum maker Novelis in 2007.

“We are at some sort of an inflection point, where we are strong in our domestic market and we want to look at investing abroad more aggressively,” Birla said in an interview with Bloombrg News in his office in Mumbai.

“As far as I can see, there’s no Novelis-type of transaction potentially in the