Cembrit Holding A/S

	Group Profile

	Mission & Vision

	Board of Directors

	Group Management Team

	History

	Facts & Figures

	Environmental Policy

In 1927, F. L. Smidth & Co. established a fibre-cement manufacturing company under the name Dansk Eternit with the aim of expanding their business into the fibre-cement category.

In 1938, the brand name Cembrit was applied for the first time as a sub-brand for the then small and humble export activities. At this time, the Group consisted of merely one Danish company situated in Aalborg, and the name found its birth in the soil of Northern Jutland.

Though the name had associations with both “cement” and “eternit”, much more thought lay behind.

Cembrit derives from the name “Cembria” from which the Cimbrians got their name. The Cimbrians were a Celtic nomadic tribe originating from Northern Jutland in Denmark, who in ancient time set out to conquer Europe.

In their quest for adventure and power, they defeated one people at a time, and those who could not beat them, joined them. Therefore, they developed into a strong entity – strong enough to threaten the Giant of that time, the Roman Empire.

As the company identified strongly with the Cimbrians, Cembrit was the perfect brand name for its export activities.

During the following 50 years, the company grew to become one of Denmark's leading building material manufacturers within roofing.

During the 1980's and 90's, the company began to expand its presence in Europe by applying the existing business platform abroad – still mostly under the name Cembrit.

The company acquired a British sales company, Cembrit Blunn Ltd., in 1986, and during the years 1992-93, five additional businesses located in Finland (Minerit), the Czech Republic (Cembrit CZ), the Netherlands (Cembrit B.V.) and Germany (Eurocem) were acquired.

In 1995, a new company structure was implemented, and a new parent company, Dansk Eternit Holding A/S, was established.

The expansion continued with the acquisition of a Danish manufacturer of roofing accessories in 1995, a French distributor in 1998 (Interfer) and a Polish fibre-cement producer in 2000 (Izopol).

In the period 2002-03, the company decided to focus resources on the core business, i.e. fibre-cement. As a consequence hereof, the companies Højslev Teglværk A/S, J. A. Plastindustri A/S and Austria B.V. were sold off.

This streamlining strategy led to acquisitions of sales and distribution companies in Sweden (Tepro) and Norway (Norsal) and in 2003, the company decided to consolidate the production platform by concentrating production on the four factories situated in the Czech Republic, Poland and Finland.

In 2006, the Dansk Eternit Holding Group entered a joint venture with the Austrian company Eternit-Werke Ludwig Hatschek AG and established the company Eternit South-Eastern-Europe Holding GmbH. Part of this joint venture was a production facility in Hungary, and the same year, a sales company was established in Romania.

2006 was a busy year, and in addition to the above, the Group acquired the sales companies Cembrit IBS B.V. in the Netherlands and Cembrit SFS in Slovakia.

As the Group continued to grow, a still increasing demand for a shared corporate identity arose. Therefore, the Dansk Eternit Holding Group decided to dig deep into the historic roots of the company to find a suitable name for the entire Group. Following this, on 28 February 2008, the Dansk Eternit Holding Group changed its name to Cembrit - A name used already in the first hesitant beginning of the export activities.

Both in 1938 and now, there is a strong link between the company, Cembrit, and the Cimbrians, as the company, just as the nomadic tribe, started out as a small entity from Northern Jutland fighting its way through Europe in a “conquering” quest. And not least, the Cimbrians’ thurst for adventure and zest for life are also deeply rooted in the Group.

Thus, the name Cembrit was the natural choice for the Group in order for the brand name and visual identity to reflect the fact that with two thirds of the company’s business taking place outside of Denmark – Cembrit is indeed an international player within the fibre-cement category.

Today, Cembrit consists of the parent company, Cembrit Holding A/S, and the subsidiaries placed in 16 countries across Europe.