ROMANIA: Cement producer Holcim Romania appoints new CEO

Algerian-Canadian Sofiane Benmaghnia, 39, will be the new CEO of cement producer Holcim Romania starting April 1.

He will replace Francois Petry, who took over as CEO of Aggregates Industries, the British subsidiary of the newly formed LafargeHolcim group.

Sofiane Benmaghnia joined LafargeHolcim in 1999 as a financial analyst. Since then, he has built his career within the group, working in several markets where LafargeHolcim operates (North America, Middle East, Africa and Europe). He has an experience of over 16 years in the cement industry.

He has been the CEO of Meftah Cement Operations, Aggregates & Concrete in Algeria since 2011. Before that, he was Chief Financial Officer of Lafarge Concrete and Aggregates in the Middle East for three years.

Sofiane is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant and has a degree in Commerce from the University of Tunisia. He also holds a certification in managerial accounting from the Concordia University in Montreal, and an executive MBA from the Sherbrooke University in Canada.

Holcim Romania has two cement factories, in Campulung and Alesd, and some 800 employees. The company had sales of EUR 217 million and a net profit of EUR 16 million in 2014.

ROMANIA: Cement producer increases sales on all segments

Cement and aggregates manufacturer LafargeHolcim increased its cement sales in Romania by 15.3% in the first nine months of the year, especially due to the strong advance of the construction market in Bucharest.

The cement price went down by 0.8% in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period in 2014.

On the aggregates segment, LafargeHolcim reported an increase of 72.3% in the sales volume between January and September this year compared to the same period in 2014. The price of aggregates dropped by 15.1% during this period.

“The demand in Eastern Europe remained at a high level, especially in countries that are not oil exporters. Volumes have increased in most states in the region, with strong increases on all segments in Romania,” reads the company’s release.

The LafargeHolcim group was created following the merger of French company Lafarge and Swiss competitor Holcim. The new group kept Holcim’s assets in Romania and sold Lafarge’s assets to Irish group CRH.

ROMANIA: Swiss cement producer increases turnover by 7.8% in Romania

Swiss cement producer Holcim increased its sales in Romania last year by 7.8% compared to 2013.

This was due to the large projects developed in the Bucharest area.

Cement prices dropped by 1.2% in Romania in 2014, whereas the aggregate sales went down by 6.1%, but prices increased by 13.6%. Aggregates include crushed stone, gravel, and sand.

In Europe, the cement sales dropped by 1%, to 26.4 million tonnes last year, compared to 26.7 million tonnes in 2013.

“In Europe, the volumes slightly increased in the fourth semester, supported by the activity in the UK and Romania, which compensated for the loss on various markets such as France, Belgium and Switzerland,” reads a group report, cited by local Wall-street.ro.

Holcim and French building material producer Lafarge are seeking to create a building material producer giant. The merger is estimated at USD 40 billion.

ROMANIA: Cement producer Holcim Romania hopes for market recovery on new infrastructure projects in 2015

The Romanian cement market is likely to go down this year again, after dropping to 7 million tons in 2013, but 2015 will be the year when large infrastructure projects will be decided, saidFrançois Pétry, general manager of Holcim Romania.

Infrastructure projects generated about 40% of the EUR 202 million turnover posted by Holcim in 2013, but this weight should drop below 40% this year as the company’s sales are expected to stay the same.

The lack of infrastructure projects was compensated by other projects, such as New Europe Property Investments’ Mega Mall, or the Bucharest One office tower, for which Holcim delivers cement.

Pétry expects a return to profitability for Holcim Romania this year, after a loss of EUR 1.4 mln in 2013.

The company is part of Swiss group Holcim, one of the largest cement producers in the world. Holcim owns two cement plants in Campulung and Alesd, a grinding station and a cement terminal in Turda, 13 ecological ready-mix plants, 3 aggregates plants, 2 special binders plants and a cement terminal in Bucharest, and employs around 950 people.

Holcim group is currently undergoing a merger process with Lafarge. The new group will keep Holcim’s assets in Romania, but will sell Lafarge’s assets.

ROMANIA: Holcim’s cement sales in Romania down 1%, aggregate sales perform better

Swiss cement producer Holcim saw its cement and clinker sales down 1 percent in Romania in the first half of this year, compared to H1 2011, while the cement prices were up 1.2 percent, according to the group, which did not mention sales figures. Mid last year, Holcim’s sales were up over 10 percent in Romania. Things were better on the aggregates side, when the company had 19.8 percent greater product volumes, while prices were also up 14.3 percent. 

“Holcim Hungary and Holcim Romania did, however, come close to matching their previous year’s levels. In the aggregates segment, the Group companies in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia reported higher sales volumes. Driven by Holcim Romania and Holcim Croatia, sales of ready-mix concrete in Eastern Europe just about held steady,” states the company’s report.

The drop in Romania was lower than in Europe, where Holcim’s sales nosedived by 6.3 percent in the first six months. Spain, a country where many Romanians used to work in construction, accounted for the biggest decline – 32.2 percent, followed by Romania’s neighbor Bulgaria, with a drop of 30.1 percent. Italy, another favorite for Romanian construction, was also down 29.9 percent.

Worldwide, Holcim”s sales were up 2.1 percent, to some CHF 10 billion (the equivalent of some EUR 8.3 billion).

Holcim Romania has two cement plants in Campulung and Alesd, and one grinding station in Turda, 19 ecological concrete stations, 5 aggregate plants and a cement terminal in Bucharest. The full H1 results presentation here.