Improvement forecast in Britain’s RMC markets

Ready mixed concrete markets in Great Britain are expected to increase by around 5% during 2013, says industry marketing consultancy, 671 BDS Marketing Research.

The company says that it has been a roller- coaster for the industry in recent years with demand for ready mixed concrete falling by 8% last year thus cancelling out the improvement which the industry enjoyed in 2011.

However, BDS Marketing Research expects that the ready mixed concrete industry can now enjoy steady increases in the market over the next few years.

“The housing market is at last showing signs of improvement. This is expected to be followed by recovery in industrial and commercial building. There are also a number of major infrastructure projects which will come on stream over the next few years’. BDS is forecasting average annual growth of around 5% in each of the next three years. However, by 2016, demand for ready mixed concrete will still be below 2007 pre-recession levels,” says chief consultant, Julian Clapp.

These are some of the conclusions of BDS Marketing’s annual report on the industry entitled Estimated market shares of ready mixed concrete companies in Great Britain. This estimates the market shares of all companies in the industry, by county, regionally and nationally. As well as a three-year forecast, the BDS report identifies plants and companies that have both closed and opened over the past 12 months. Around 70 plants have either opened or closed since the start of 2012.

The report includes details of 225 businesses that mix concrete at static batching plants as well as a further 200 volumetric companies.

“The major company change over the past year has been the formation of 7447 Hope Construction Materials which acquired more than 170 plants from Lafarge Tarmac. This was a pre-requisite laid down by the Competition Commission for the merger between 725 Lafarge and 868 Tarmac to go ahead. The BDS report includes the estimated shares of these companies, both before and after the change of ownership,” says the company.

“The BDS report also includes details of three other industry acquisitions made in the last 12 months.

BDS has calculated that 1343 Hanson is the largest ready mixed concrete company in the country, followed by 643 Cemex. The formation of Hope Construction Materials has resulted in the new company becoming the third largest concrete business.”

The consultancy estimates that Hanson is the largest supplier in southern England and Wales. Cemex is the leading company in the East Anglia region and the north-west. BDS believes that Hope is now the largest concrete company in the Midlands and Northern England.

Further details of the report are available by contacting Julian Clapp at BDS on +44 (0) 1761) 433035; Email 2Email<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary />000oLinkEmailjulian.clapp@bdsmarketing.co.ukjulian clappfalsemailto:julian.clapp@bdsmarketing.co.uktruefalse%> or 2External<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary />000oLinkExternalwww.bdsmarketing.co.ukvisit: www.bdsmarketing.co.ukfalsehttp://www.bdsmarketing.co.uk/falsefalse%>.