Following its acquisition of Lafarge Refractories on 1 Jan/05, Imreys has combined the assets with its existing Plibrico SA company into a new monolithic refractory entity called Caldreys. The new Caldreys has 18 production sites and more than 28 sales offices worldwide. Total annual production is over 300,000 tonnes, with an annual turnover of more than Euros 335M. The new company becomes part of the new Materials and Monolithics business group. Somewhat confusingly, Caldreys is now separate from the Refractories, Abrasives and Filtration business group, which includes the newly acquired World Minerals, the leading diatomite and perlite group based in California. The overall market environment for the former Refractories and Abrasives business group remained positive during the first half period.
