Alhaji Dr. Aliko Dangote, President, Dangote Group |
According to
the half-year results released on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange
(NSE) at the weekend, the cement company achieved a 20.23 per cent growth in
profit before tax. Its profit before tax grew from N107.070billion to
N128.726billion in the period under review. This followed a 15.94 per cent rise
in revenue, with the company realising N242.215billion revenue as against
N208.909billion in the first half of 2014.
Dangote
Cement grew its revenue to N114.7billion from N103billion in the first quarter
of this year on the back of its expansion programme, which saw it commence
operations in some African countries. Its net profit for the quarter also rose
by 44.1 per cent to N68.6billion from N47.62billon in the first quarter of last
year.
Chief
Executive Officer of Dangote Cement, Onne
van der Weijde, said: “Our new plants have made
excellent starts across Africa in the first half of 2015 and our operations now
stretch from Senegal across to Ethiopia and down to South Africa, making us a
truly pan-African leader in cement. Our strategy has been to enter markets with
higher-quality cement produced at lower-cost factories and as a result we are
building strong shares in key African markets, despite well-established
competition. The increasing diversity of our business is demonstrated by the
fact that 22 per cent of volumes were sold outside of Nigeria and this has helped
to offset some of the uncertainties in our home market. We will build on these
early successes in Africa as we continue to expand our business across the
continent.”
He said the
1.5metric tonnes (mt) factory in Senegal, which opened in January, made an excellent
start, particularly in the second quarter, and provides more than 30 percent of
all cement sold in Senegal while the new 1.5 million tonne cement-grinding
facility in Cameroon began operation in late March.
Dangote
Cement is Africa’s leading cement producer with 40mt of capacity operation,
including three plants in Nigeria, an import terminal Ghana and recently opened
factories in Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, Senegal and Cameroon.
The plants
are fully integrated quarry-to-customer producer facility, with production
capacity of 29.25 million tonnes. The Obajana plant in Kogi State is the
largest in Africa with 13.25 million tonnes of capacity across four
lines. While the Ibese plant in Ogun State has four cement lines
with a combined installed capacity of 12 million tonnes. The Gboko plant in
Benue state has four million tonnes of capacity. Through investments, Dangote
Cement has eliminated Nigeria’s dependence on imported cement and is
transforming the nation into an exporter serving neighbouring countries. (As
seen in Nation)
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