Report: Buzzi Unicem: a global cement specialist. A company, whose Russian business is contributing to Russian war crimes in Ukraine
Buzzi Unicem: a global cement specialist. A Company, whose Russian business is contributing to Russian war crimes in Ukraine, 6 February 2023
...Buzzi Unicem operates in Russia through “SLK Cement” LLC (ООО «СЛК Цемент» or “Buzzi Russia”), which includes two cement plants “Sukholozhskcement” («Сухоложскцемент») and “Korkino” («Коркино»), a terminal in Omsk, and transport company “Cemtrans” («Цемтранс»), according to Buzzi’s Russian website. Dyckerhoff GmbH, Company’s German subsidiary, is present in Russia since 1994.
Buzzi continued to expand the Russian business even after annexation of Crimea in 2014. On 1 Dec. 2014, 9 months after the annexation, Buzzi announced the acquisition of Uralcement (Korkino cement plant) from Lafarge for €104m. In the press-release (on the RHS), Buzzi emphasized the willingness to strengthen its position in the Urals region
The Company’s Russian cement plants have the largest cement production capacity per plant in the group. According to the sustainability report, as of 2021 the average Russian plant capacity was 2.2m tons of cement per year compared to 1.1m group average...
In the press-release dated 12 May 2022, the Company announced its decision to cease any operational involvement in the activities carried out by SLK Cement and to suspend strategic initiatives due to the sanctions imposed on Russia.
At the same time, Buzzi Russia continued to grow in 2022. Based on the interim report, during the 1H’22 Russian unit grew net sales 22%, EBITDA by 43% and capital expenditures by 44% yoy. Profitability improved as EBITDA margins expanded from 27% in 1H’21 to 32% in 1H’22. As per trading update, its net sales growth in Q3’22 has accelerated further, to 36% yoy.
Buzzi Russia, has been actively recruiting during 2022. As of June 2022, SLK Cement had 1,576 employees, c. 9% higher (+130 people) than in December 2021. Moreover, according to the Russian job search service hh.ru, there were 30+ vacancies at SLK Cement LLC as of October 2022...
As of 29 September 2022, approx. one thousand men were mobilized in Korkino, where one of the Buzzi’s plants is located, according to the Current Time.
Two weeks later, first news confirmed that five mobilized men from Korkino were killed in Ukraine. According to the Current Time unofficial sources, the real number of deaths might have been 27 mobilized men...
Buzzi shows a big appreciation to its mobilized employees on Russian social media. Recent post confirms that SLK Cement sent supplies to the Russian artillery unit, which Buzzi’s employees are part of. Buzzi Russia CEO is thanking the mobilized employees in his New Year’s greetings...