Despite the current challenges faced by the construction industry, building products producer Boral has upped its performance for FY23 and is focused on recarbonisation of concrete.
Revenue figures released last week for the Concrete Institute Gold Member was up 12% for the first half year at 31 December 2022. Boral CEO Vik Bansal said: “Today, in my first set of financial and operational results for Boral, I am pleased to report a half on half improved performance on key metrics amidst a challenging inflationary and operating environment.”
Bansal was appointed as CEO from December 2022 but was brought on board three months ahead of schedule, replacing Zlatko Todorcevski who had been at the helm for just over two years. Bansal had headed up InfraBuild for 15 months beforehand and was CEO of waste management company Cleanaway prior so he’s big on concrete recarbonisation.
“I believe that recarbonisation of concrete is not discussed enough and we intend to bring it to the table,” Vik Bansal said. “We also continue to assess opportunities to transition to renewable electricity sources … and remain focused on accelerating penetration of our market leading lower carbon concretes. We have expanded our Circular Materials Management offering which is already achieving positive results and we are exploring further opportunities to grow our recycling business.”
Boral expects to complete the chlorine bypass at the Berrima Cement plant in the fourth quarter of FY23, which will enable higher use of alternative fuels at the kiln and reduce its reliance on coal. This will support an increase in alternative fuels from around 15% last year to 30% by the end of June 2023. The target for FY25 is 60%.
Bansal revealed Boral now has a “flatter and broader organisational structure” where its regional concrete and quarry business units will have more autonomy in responsibility for day-to-day execution, having been standardised. A second mill was commissioned in December 2022 for the Geelong facility, taking its total capacity to 1.4 million tonnes which Boral said would provide the “flexibility to meet operational challenges, allowing us to adapt and respond quickly to changing environments”.
About the author
Desi Corbett
Desi is the Editor of Concrete in Australia and at the helm of our magazine for 8 years. She was behind the Institute's weekly news bulletins from 2016-2021 and is now writing our focused news items. Desi has been an engineering news and features journalist/editor across all disciplines since 2013 - part of a 30-year career writing for a wide range of industries.