Optimistic companies make major investments in emerging markets

A number of recent events in Europe would indicate that many quarry operators are seeing a slowdown in the rate of sales declines.

Indeed, many are optimistic that while in some cases things may not get back to those of the good years, they are steadily improving and that debt reduction targets, set out soon after the economic problems appeared, will be met.
Harsh weather has affected many first quarter results from companies but they are still optimistic about the rest of the year with emerging markets seeing major investments.

“Our outlook remains unchanged and we expect to see cement demand growth in our markets of between 1-4% in 2013,” says Bruno Lafont, 725 Lafarge’s chairman and CEO.

He is confident that by the end of 2014 the company will have delivered most of its 2012-2015 plan to generate €1.75 billion additional EBITDA through performance and innovation measures, nearly a year ahead of its initial objective. Debt will be reduced to below €10 billion as soon as possible in 2013.

Likewise, Dr Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of 674 HeidelbergCement, says: “The improved operating income in Q1, despite declining sales volumes and revenue shows that we are on the right track. The measures we introduced for improving the margins are showing results.”

And this feeling of optimism was clear at the record-breaking bauma 2013 exhibition in Munich, Germany in April when 530,000 visitors from over 200 countries converged on the 5655 Messe München exhibition centre where there were 3,420 exhibitors from 57 countries. Not only did this bauma break all previous records for exhibitor numbers and exhibition space, it also attracted the highest number of visitors ever.

Johann Sailer, chairman of the Construction Equipment and Building Material Machinery Association of 4293 VDMA and president of the Committee for the European Construction Equipment Industry (CECE) summed up the mood.

“This is very good for our industry in these turbulent times and it will certainly give it a boost.”

At the event there were no shortages of new product launches underlining the drive for further efficiency in the industry.

Aggregates Business Europe and sister publication World Highways had its news team on hand to outline the latest equipment launched and the thoughts of leading construction equipment industry figures. These can be found can be found on our bauma 2013 Daily News website at 2External<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary />000oLinkExternalwww.worldhighways.com/event-news/bauma-2013bauma 2013falsehttp://www.worldhighways.com/event-news/bauma-2013falsefalse%>.

However, with new emissions regulations about to come into force, it was obvious that equipment producers have for some time realised that fuel consumption is high on the agenda, with quarry and other equipment being required to deliver maximum productivity with minimum whole-life costs.

Another example of optimism in these difficult times has come from the organisers of the UK's new biennial event for the construction industry, 7345 Plantworx 2013, with the inaugural exhibition being held in May.

Promoted by the Construction Equipment Association (4444 CEA), the exhibition provided a new showcase for construction equipment suppliers, and despite some appalling weather, it attracted 11,696 visitors.

Full marks must go to all those involved in the event’s organisation, which was excellent. And the event will be repeated.

“Plantworx 2013 proved a success and we are now planning for 2015, creating a sustainable event for the industry by the industry. We would like to thank all visitors and exhibitors who participated in the making the very first Plantworx a success,” say the organisers.