Half year: Dangote Cement records 12.6% Sales volume increase across Africa

Dangote Cement, Africa’s largest cement producer, has announced its unaudited results for the six months ended 30th June 2017, posting a 12.6 percent increase in sales volume across Africa. In the fi nancials released on the fl oor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange indicated that the increase in sales volume showed a growing capture of Pan-African market as Dangote Cement continues to gain grounds. Revenues from operations in Nigeria increased by 34.5 percent to 291.4 billion while Pan-Africa revenue increased by 63.7 percent to 124.4B from 76.0B mainly as a result of increased volumes and foreign exchange gains when converting the sales from country local currency into Naira. Analysis of the half year result revealed that sales volumes of African operations increased by 12.6 percent to 4.7 million metric tons with Sierra Leone making a 53 kt maiden contribution.

Record of sales from its operations scattered around the African continent revealed that a total of 1.1million ‘metric tons of cement was sold in Ethiopia, almost 0.7 million metric tons sold in Senegal, 0.6 million metric tons sold in Cameroon, and 0.5 million tons in Ghana Also, 0.4 million metric tons of cement was sold in Tanzania and 0.3 million tons in Zambia. Sales volumes from Nigerian operations fell from 8.8Mt to 6.9Mt, occasioned by the onset of rains which stalled many construction projects. Refl ecting on the half year results, Dangote Cement’s Chief Executive Offi cer, Onne van der Weijde expressed satisfaction that the company’s revenues have continued to grow despite low sales from the Nigerian operations noting that the revenues grew on the strength of sales from other African operations He said: “Our revenues have continued to grow despite the lower volumes seen in Nigeria, especially because of the recent heavy rains. Our margins have improved signifi cantly, helped by improved effi ciencies and a much better fuel mix in Nigeria. “We are using much more gas and increasing our use of coal mined in Nigeria, thus reducing our need for foreign currency and supporting Nigerian jobs.

”Our Pan-African operations are growing well and increasing market share. We saw our the fi rst sales from Sierra Leone in the fi rst quarter and our new plant in the Republic of Congo will be in production at the end of July, further increasing our footprint across Africa and strengthening our position as its leading manufacturer of cement.” Th e Company reports that it estimated that Nigeria’s total market for cement was 10.2 million tonnes (Mt), 23.2% lower than the estimated 13.3Mt sold in Nigeria in the fi rst half of 2016. Of total market sales in the fi rst half of 2017, just 0.1Mt was imported.

As a result of the slower market, our Nigeria operation sold nearly 6.9Mt of cement, down 21.8% on the 8.8Mt sold in the fi rst half of 2016. We estimate our market share to have been about 64.5% during the fi rst six months of 2017. Dangote Cement is a highgrowth, low-debt, internationally diversifi ed company that has just paid a dividend amounting to nearly 75% of 2016 net profi ts to shareholders. Th e recent publication of our credit ratings highlights the fi nancial strength we have achieved through our unwavering focus on the profi table expansion of the business, underpinned by our belief that we must remain prudent in our fi nancial management.”

 

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