Monday 3 August 2015

DANGOTE CEMENT POSTS N121.8B HALF-YEAR PROFIT

Alhaji Dr. Aliko Dangote, President, Dangote Group
Dangote Cement Plc posted a profit after tax (PAT) of N121.808 billion in the six-month period ended June 30, 2015, indicating a 21.65 per cent increase over the N95.440billion announced for the same period of last year.

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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