Search

France-based Vicat has reported that its turnover between January and the end of September this year rose 5.9% to €1.53billion. The company has said that improved conditions in the third quarter with a 13% rise in turnover, compared to the same period last year, and the acquisition of Bharathi Cement helped to boost the results. The company is expecting the growth seen in the third quarter to continue into the final three months of the year.

Poland’s Dolnoslaskie Surowce Skalne has announced that it has acquired an 85% stake in sand and aggregate producer Kieleckie Kopalnie Surowcow Mineralnych (KKSM). Financial details of the deal have not been released and the takeover still needs approval by Poland’s Office of Consumer and Competition Protection (UOKiK). Nonetheless, Surowce Skalne has guaranteed to maintain staff numbers for at least 60 months and will not re-sell the business within the next two years.

Lafarge has reported sales of almost €4.5billion between June and September this year, up 6% on the same period last year. Nonetheless, operating income was still down by 2% for the period, compared with the third quarter in 2009. The company has also reported results for the first full nine months of the year with €12.2billion sales recorded and a 4% fall in operating income to €1.9billion. According to Lafarge, improvements were seen in the Central and Eastern European markets during the third quarter and

Cemex UK hopes to improve its delivery capabilities with investment of £2.9million in 40 new Man vehicles, which will be based at its South Ferriby cement plant in Lincolnshire. The Man 26-440 Euro 5 TGS 6 x 2 tractor units, fitted with Gardner Denver XK 12 blower units and Hyropack will replace 40 existing vehicles that have completed over 750,000kms and are suffering from increased downtime.

Holcim is planning to build a new crushing and mixing facility at La Pallice Port in La Rochelle, France in a bid to increase its cement production capacity. The new plant will be capable of producing 3,500tonnes of cement per day and is expected to be fully operational by September 2013.

Lafarge is seeking to gain special authorisation to access 6million tonnes of aggregate reserves at its quarry in Moisson-Freneuse, France. The material falls within a nature protection zone but the company is trying to get the protection lifted despite the move already being blocked by the Environment Ministry and the local authorities in the Yvelines department of France.

France-based Italcementi subsidiary Ciments Français has said that it expects a further drop in EBITDA in the last quarter of this year to be in line with the decline seen in the first nine months of the year. Revenues in the first nine months were down 1.3% on the same period in 2009 at €3.2billion. The two main business segments dropped by 1.9% including cement with sales of €2.20billion, while the contribution of aggregates and ready mixed concrete was down to €835.8million.

Italy-based Italcementi has reported that slow markets in Spain, Italy and Bulgaria have contributed to a 4.7% decline in sales to €3.6billion for the first nine months of the year. The company has said that there was a positive trend in its business in China, Thailand and Kazakhstan but this failed to offset the declines elsewhere. Net profits at the company are also down 39.7% from the same period in 2009 at €133million.

Mike Woof reflects on the development of the crawler track and its significance for the construction and extractive industries. The invention of the crawler track was a significant development for the off highway equipment industry, providing mobility and versatility that had not been available before. Most of the early steam powered shovels used in extraction (or construction) ran on rail, which limited their mobility and versatility. Crawler tracks meant that for the first time, heavy machines were a

Scotland-based M&K Macleod has invested in a new Sandvik screening equipment to boost aggregate production to meet demand. The precast concrete housing manufacturer operates two quarries in Argyll in order to control the quality of its raw materials and the new equipment is central to this. Macleod invested first in a QJ340 jaw crusher and has since added a QH330 cone crusher to its fleet. Its latest investment adds a QA331 tracked three way split screener to the quarry operation.

Ludwig Merckle has announced that he has raised his interest in Heidelberg Cement from just under 25% to 25.11% and regained a blocking minority in the business. Merckle said that the greater stake was part of a long term commitment to Heidelberg but he has no further plans to further increase his shareholding within the next 12 months.

Tyre shortages have been a serious issue for quarry operators for some time and with no quick fix on the horizon, fitting of tyre protection chains could provide the answer. Bridgestone's fire at its Togichi tyre factory in Japan, combined with a global construction boom, has resulted in a shortage of tyres for large construction equipment. In recent years reports of expensive tyres, big machines standing idle, lost production and reduced revenues - all for want of a tyre have become common.

Ireland-based CRH has reported that its sales in the third quarter of 2010 were down 4% on the same period last year. Nonetheless, the company has said that this shows the rate of decline is slowing after recording a 10% drop on 2009 figures during the first six months of this year. CRH has said the overall sales drop for the first nine months of the year is 8%, compared to the same period last year.

CRH is aiming to improve its market share in Germany with increased investment in its distribution business there. The company has announced that it now owns a 98% share in Bauking – Germany’s leading builders merchant and DIY operator in northern Germany. CRH has acquired an additional 50% of the shares in the operation for €126million and the company has said that the investment “will greatly strengthen CRH's existing position in Germany, the largest construction market in Europe, providing an excellent p

Construction of a new cycle path in the Netherlands by Heidelberg Cement subsidiary ENCI marks completion of the group’s first carbon neutral concrete project. The path at ENCI’s cement plant in Maastricht was officially opened last month and CO2 emissions associated with the construction were neutralised by the CO2 credits.

Demand for more capacity, lower operating costs and easier maintenance is driving development in the screening sector. Claire Symes reports. he rise in demand for high quality aggregates in Europe combined with the environmental and planning complexities of opening new quarries is starting to influence the design of new screens. Not only do quarry operators want screens that deliver accuracy, they also want equipment that can efficiently process material that would have once been considered uneconomic.

Demand for construction materials in emerging markets and stable volume development have been cited by Holcim for the 5% rise in turnover in the first nine months of the year. Sales reached CHF16.5billion during the period, up from CHF15.7billion in the same period last year. The company has recorded this growth for the full nine months despite a 0.5% decline in sales during the third quarter, which was blamed on economic and seasonal influences negatively impacting on the business.

Geophysical ground exploration techniques could give a clearer view of a prospective aggregates resource and the cost of extracting it without lifting any turf. Claire Symes reports. Dwindling aggregate reserves are an issue in Europe, particularly with demand forecast to rise, but gaining permission to open a new quarry is not a quick, easy or inexpensive task. To be sure the investment, in terms of time and capital is worthwhile, quarry operators need to be sure that the resource is both suitable and will

Lafarge UK has donated £48,000 through the Landfill Communities Fund to help with development of a Wildlife reserve close to a former gravel pit. Under the deal Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust has been able to purchase extra land to extend the existing Cossington Meadows reserve in the Soar Valley. The funds have also been used to carry out wetland habitat creation works with shallow wetland scrapes formed and steep lake banks reprofiled. The reserve was established in 2004 on a former gravel quar

UK-based Bardon Aggregates has announced that it has allocated 500 shares to each of its 673 employees at a value of 15.25p per share. According to Breedon chairman Peter Tom, the company issued to shares to give employees an added interest and confidence in the business since the reverse takeover by Marwyn Materials earlier this year. An application has been made to AIM to admit the new shares for trading and admission is expected on 16 November. Completion of the deal will give the company 554,003,167 sha