Lafarge

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For the New York City architectural firm, see Heins & LaFarge.

Lafarge S.A.

Type	Société Anonyme
Traded as	Euronext: LG
Industry	Building materials
Founded	1833
Headquarters	Paris, France
Key people	Bruno Lafont (Chairman and CEO)
Products	Cement, Construction aggregates, asphalt production and paving, concrete and gypsum wallboard
Revenue	€15.816 billion (2012)^[1]
Operating income	€ 2.44 billion (2012)^[1]
Profit	€ 432 million (2012)^[1]
Total assets	€39.46 billion (end 2012)^[1]
Employees	65,000 (end 2012)^[1]
Subsidiaries	Lafarge Tarmac (50%)
Website	www.lafarge.com

bags of Lafarge cement

Lafarge is a French industrial company specialising in four major products: cement, construction aggregates, concrete and gypsum wallboard. The company is the world's largest cement manufacturer.

1 History
2 Environmental concerns
3 The Group
4 Management team
5 Board of directors
6 Financial data
7 See also
8 External links
9 References

History

Lafarge was founded in 1833^[2] by Joseph-Auguste Pavin de Lafarge in Le Teil (Ardèche), to exploit the limestone quarry in Mont Saint-Victor between Le Teil and Viviers. The limestone is white and argillaceous, and yielded an eminently hydraulic lime.

In 1864 Lafarge signed its first international contract for the delivery of 110,000 tonnes of lime to the Suez Canal construction project.^[2] It developed calcium aluminate cements. It was also an early pioneer in the production of white Portland cement, still made at the company's original Le Teil plant.

In 1919, a public company was formed, named "Société anonyme des chaux et ciments de Lafarge et du Teil."

In 1980, it joined with the Belgian coal, coke and fertilizer company Coppée to become SA Lafarge Coppée.

Lafarge purchased a plant from the National Gypsum Company in early-1987.^[3] Ten years later, it bought Redland plc, a leading British quarry operator.^[4]

In 1999, Lafarge acquired 100% shareholding in Hima Cement Limited, the second-largest cement manufacturer in Uganda, with installed capacity of 850,000 metric tonnes annually, as of January 2011.^[5] IN 1999, Lafarge entered the Indian market through its cement business,with the acquisition of Tata Steel's cement activity.This acquisition was followed by the purchase of the Raymond Cement facility in 2001.^[6] In 2001, Lafarge, then the world's second largest cement manufacturer, acquired Blue Circle Industries (BCI), which at the time was the world's sixth largest cement manufacturer, to become the world leader in cement manufacturing.^[2]

In 2006, Lafarge North America shareholders accepted a $3 billion tender offer from Lafarge Group which gave the parent company full control over the North American business, removing LNA from the New York Stock Exchange. Previously the Group had owned 53% of LNA shares.^[7]

In 2007, it divested its roofing division, selling it to a private equity group in a deal that resulted in Lafarge retaining a 35% equity stake.^[2]

In December 2007, Lafarge announced the purchase of the Orascom Cement Group, an Egyptian based cement producer with operations across Africa and the Middle East, from Orascom Construction Industries (OCI).^[8]

On May 15, 2008 Lafarge acquired Larsen & Toubro Ready Mix-Concrete (RMC) business in India for $349 million.^[9]

In 2010, Lafarge strengthened its presence in Brazil (agreement with Votorantim^[10]) and in Central Europe (with STRABAG^[11]).

In 2011, Lafarge SA will build a cement plant in Langkat, North Sumatra, Indonesia with investment up to Rp.5 trillion ($585 million).^[12]

Lafarge launches three plants in Hungary, Syria and Nigeria and creates a joint-venture with Anglo American in the United Kingdom.

The Group sold most of its European, South American, Asian and Australian gypsum operations.^[13]^[14]^[15]

At the end of 2011, Lafarge announced its new organization project focused on its markets and its clients to accelerate the Group's development and profitability.^[16]

In April 2013, Lafarge adopts a new brand baseline “Building better cities” ^[17]. It reflects the Group’s ambition to contribute to the improvement of cities by developing innovative construction products, solutions and systems.

Lafarge’s contribution to better cities addresses some key challenges of urbanization ^[18]: contribute to more housing in cities;

contribute to more compact cities;
contribute to more durable cities;
contribute to more connected cities;
contribute to more beautiful cities.

Environmental concerns

On July 11, 2008, the Albany Times Union reported that Lafarge's Ravena, New York plant "was the greatest source of mercury emissions in New York from 2004 to 2006" ^[19] According to the story, plans have been made to upgrade the plant to reduce the mercury emissions. A second story, published the following day, stated that the factory had emitted 400 pounds (181 kg) of mercury annually from 2004 to 2006.^[20] In November 2010 Lafarge, together along with other companies, opposes new EPA regulations that require mercury-emissions reductions at cement plants.^[21] Preliminary data published by the EPA for the year 2009 showed 145 pounds of mercury were recorded for the Ravena plant (total on- and off-site disposals). The plant has continued to perform within permitted limits.^[22]

The Group

The Group conduct its operations through more than 1,000 subsidiaries, out of which 82% are consolidated. Further to the divestment of a majority of the gypsum assets and the fundamental changes to the management structure, the Group has fully refocused on its core businesses of cement, aggregates and concrete. The strategic shift will accelerate growth and innovation.

It has an organizational structure based on our three Divisions, with decentralized local operations and strong corporate expert departments, which are involved in strategic decisions.

Cement: Lafarge has 161 plants in 58 countries
Aggregates and Concrete: more than 1 395 production facilities and sales offices in 36 countries

The headquarter of the Group is based on Paris (France).

The partner of Lafarge in Lithuania is http://www.vedrana.lt

Management team

On November Lafarge announced its new organization project focused on its markets and its clients, designed to accelerate the Group’s development and profitability. The product line-based organization is replaced with a country-based organization. This included the removal of a layer of management and the resulting reorganization of the executive committee. Since January 2012.^[16]

Bruno Lafont, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Jean-Carlos Angulo, Executive Vice-President Operations
Jean Desazars de Montgailhard, Executive Vice-President Strategy, Development and Public Affairs
Thomas Farrell, Executive Vice-President Operations
Jean-Jacques Gauthier, Executive Vice-President Finance
Christian Herrault, Executive Vice-President Operations
Gérard Kuperfarb, Executive Vice-President Innovation
Eric Olsen, Executive Vice-President Organization and Human Resources
Alexandra Rocca, Senior Vice-President Group Communications
Guillaume Roux, Executive Vice-President Performance

Board of directors

The board of directors of Lafarge has 16 members and appointed by the Annual Shareholders' Meeting for a period of 4 years

^[23]

Director, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: Bruno Lafont
Independent Director non-executive Vice-Chairman of the Board: Oscar Fanjul
Directors: Paul Desmarais (fils), Ian Gallienne, Jérôme Guiraud, Thierry de Rudder, Nassef Sawiris.
Independent directors: Michel Bon, Philippe Charrier, Philippe Dauman, Juan Gallardo, Colette Lewiner, Hélène Ploix, Baudouin Prot, Michel Rollier, Véronique Weill.

Former members of the Board: Guilherme Frering, Raphaël de Lafarge, Michael Blakenham, Jean-Pierre Boisivon, Alain Joly, Bernard Kasriel, Jacques Lefèvre, Eric de Waubert de Genlis, Michel Pébereau, Pierre de Lafarge, Gérald Frère, Bertrand Collomb.

Financial data

The following is a summary of data:^[24]^[25]^[26]

**Financial data in millions of euro**
Year	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Sales	13,698	14,610	13,658	14,436	15,969	16,909	17,614	19,033	15,884	14,834	15,284	15,816
EBITDA	2,862	3,101	2,820	3,028	2,920	3,610	4,183	4,618	3,600	3,614	3,217	3,450
Net results	750	446	728	868	1,096	1,372	1,909	1,598	736	827	593	432
Net debt	9,332	8,544	6,734	7,017	7,221	9,845	8,685	16,884	13,795	13,993	11,974	11,317
Staff	82,892	77,547	75,733	77,075	80,146	82,734	77,720	83,440	77,994	75,680	68,000	65,000