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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.

Despite increases in alternative methods of transport, road construction worldwide is seen as essential and is taking on a new urgency. Many countries in Africa, Asia and parts of the Middle East as well as Eastern Europe, still have under-developed road networks, and it is here that a majority of the work is being carried out, often to improve the transport of essential goods for export or indeed import.

Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe)/(HCME) has announced that its UK dealer has been renamed Hitachi Construction Machinery (UK) Ltd. Formerly known as HM Plant, and based in Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, north-east England, the company’s new identity is now in force.

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.

Finning UK and Ireland is investing £10 million (€12 million) in two new facilities, a national parts centre in Cannock, central England, and a state-of-the-art branch in Dublin, Ireland, to support continued customer growth and the much-reported construction upturn.

Tulloch Developments of Lerwick, Shetland, has taken delivery of a new 25tonne Volvo EC250D excavator which has started duties as the prime mover at the company’s Staney Hill Quarry on the outskirts of Shetland’s capital. According to project manager Shaun Tulloch, the new EC250D was selected thanks to operator preference and comfort, smooth performance and the expectation of significant fuel savings based on the experiences of the three existing 14tonne EC140Ds bought in March 2103 for contracts supplying

Morocco has been enjoying an economic upturn in the past two years and, according to the latest figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country is predicted to achieve growth of 3.8% in 2014, buoyed by infrastructure projects and overseas investment.

CNH Industrial has agreed to enter into a new licensing agreement with Sumitomo Construction Machinery, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Heavy Industries.

Holcim, which with Lafarge recently unveiled plans for a merger of the two companies, has reported a significant increase in operating profit for the first quarter of 2014. The company says this was mainly driven by higher like-for-like cement volumes in all group regions and the continued strong momentum of the Holcim Leadership Journey coupled with strict cost management across the group

Stevens Equipment Rental has expanded its fleet with the acquisition of several Bell Equipment articulated dump trucks (ADTs) and wheeled loaders, adding to the Bell machines it already owns. The equipment rental group generally operate machines aged three years/10,000 hours or less, and specialise in the supply of equipment with the capability to perform within any given environment.