While cement is our historical strength, we aim for controlled development of all our businesses in order to guarantee growth in France and internationally.
Business-specific development
The Vicat group focuses primarily on its historical area of expertise, cement, which is the source of a large part of its profitability and the target of much investment. It expands into the ready-mixed concrete market through vertical integration, in accordance with the maturity of markets and the degree to which construction contractors integrate industrially produced concrete.
The objective is to establish a network of concrete batching plants around cement plants and near consumption centers. The Group’s presence in the aggregate sector provides a global response to its customers’ construction materials requirements as well as secure, local supplies of aggregate for development of the ready-mixed concrete business.
Vicat also benefits from a number of complementary businesses on some markets, such as precast concrete products, transport, and bag production.
Balanced geographical development
External growth is balanced between developed countries, which generate a steady stream of cash flow, and
emerging countries with attractive potential for growth. External growth may also occur on markets where the Group is already present, for the purposes of vertical integration.
External growth may involve existing businesses, as was the case with the acquisition of Ciplan in Brazil in 2019, or the construction of greenfield cement plants, for example. These different avenues of expansion help diversify geographical exposure and spread risk.
The Group is currently engaged in twelve countries. It generates 66% of its sales outside France, 30% of which is in emerging countries (Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Turkey, Kazakhstan, India, and Brazil).
Innovation accelerating growth
Drawing on its renowned know-how in all its businesses, and following in its founders’ footsteps, the Group continues to innovate in order to best meet the expectations of its markets and provide high-quality products and services.
Thanks to its people in Research & Development, the Group is able to supply customers with a wide range of innovative, high-performance products to meet the demands of rapidly changing markets.
For example, the Group has defined the guiding principles of its “climate trajectory” aimed at reducing its carbon impact and thus meeting new environmental demands such as energy transition, recyclability of materials, and improved building performance.