Just2clicks.com PLC
16 March 2000
JUST2CLICKS.COM PLC
e-cement.com to hold US$150 million Auction of Fuel
Contracts
e-cement.com ('e-cement') has been established as an on-
line trading community for the global cement industry. e-
cement.com is a 60:40 joint venture, owned by Blue Circle
Industries PLC and Just2clicks.com plc, the recently
floated B2B operator of on-line vertical trading
communities.
Following last week's announcement of the launch of e-
cement as the cement industry's leading content provider
and market maker, e-cement now announces the key
components of a 12 month strategy designed to establish
its position in the global cement industry.
* e-cement will be holding its first major auction within
the next 90 days, in which up to US$150 million of fuel
purchase contracts will be offered for sale by Blue
Circle. e-cement is also simultaneously developing a
catalogue-based e-procurement and surplus inventory
auctioning system for plant and spare parts.
* e-cement believes there is an opportunity as a market
maker to secure a significant share of the industry's
procurement spend, which is thought to be between US$20
to US$30 billion annually.
* e-cement's overall objective is to bring together the
independent players in the cement industry, with a view
to creating the necessary liquidity to provide an
efficient and sophisticated marketplace. To this end,
e-cement.com is actively looking to recruit other
industry players as equity partners. Blue Circle will
itself be bringing significant liquidity to the market
of several hundred million USD in the next 12 months.
Karl Watkin, Chief Executive of Just2clicks.com plc,
said:
'The cement industry itself may not be sexy, but the
potential revenue streams for e-cement and Just2clicks
certainly seem to be. As I have said all along, the B2B
market is all-pervasive. Any industry with operational
inefficiencies and high transaction costs can surely
benefit from this trading revolution. From our
perspective, the customers are easier to identify, they
are more loyal and they represent a far larger potential
marketplace than the business-to-consumer market.
Just2clicks is committed to the establishment of
liquidity in the market place. This latest deal is a
good example of how flexible we are prepared to be to
create an independent market place.'
Chris Shelley, Managing Director of e-cement.com, added:
'These are exciting times for the cement industry. I am
delighted to be involved at the cutting edge of what
should facilitate a revolution in cement equipment and
product trading. This joint venture between BCI and
Just2clicks is the first step that will see e-cement
develop as a truly independent community and market place
for the cement industry, and as such we are actively
developing relationships with other industry players to
reinforce independence and liquidity.'
16 March 2000
Editors Notes:
The starting point for e-cement.com was the launch of a
news and information service, which offers detailed up-to-
the-minute news, as well as a comprehensive technical
support facility for cement manufacturers and other
suppliers to the industry. This service is already fully
operational.
The next stage is to develop an e-procurement service,
which will derive commissions from procurement
transactions for cement related capital plant and
associated capital equipment, as well as internationally
traded cement and clinker, which combined are potentially
a multi-billion dollar market.
The cement industry is a major user of a wide range of
capital equipment and parts with applications in other
strategic industries, such as power generation,
contracting and heavy building materials. It is
therefore intended to create a large electronic
marketplace to enable excess inventories to be reduced, a
parts inventory pool to be created and a wider range of
suppliers to be accessed by users. Equipment would
include such items as coal mills, grinding mills, mobile
plant, cranes, motors, pumps and valves.
e-cement.com will also provide an integrated logistics
and shipping service to enable all transactions to be
fully completed and for delivery of the goods and
equipment to be promptly and efficiently effected.
Enquiries:
e-cement.com Tel: 0207 872 5675
Chris Shelley Mobile: 07720 068259
Managing Director
Just2clicks.com
Karl Watkin Mobile: 07808 690069
Chief Executive Officer
College Hill Tel: 020 7457 2020
Nicola Weiner
Archie Berens