U.K. Quarry Expansion Says a Lot About LafargeHolcim’s Ambitions
- Investment in Midlands comes as Brexit hurts materials demand
- CEO Jenisch is revamping cement maker after messy merger
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An old English quarry on a wet and windy November day is an unlikely setting for a turnaround of Europe’s biggest cement maker. But for LafargeHolcim Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Jan Jenisch, all he hears is the “sound of money.”
The 52-year-old was leading dozens of visitors around Bardon Hill, in the Midlands, where volcanic rock has been extracted for four centuries. Now, the embattled Swiss cement maker he runs is investing 80 million pounds ($102 million) to further expand the site in an effort to turn the ear-splitting process of crushing stone into a future cash cow.