Reuters has reported that East African Portland Cement, Kenya, made a pretax profit of Ksh376.27 million in the second half of 2012, up from a pretax loss of Ksh247.2 million in the same period in 2011. The positive results have been attributed to increased cement sales, as well as measures to increase efficiency, which led to higher clinker production and savings of KSh850 million.
The cement manufacturer, which also has operations in Uganda and South Sudan, is now eyeing the Tanzanian market. It plans to increase its clinker production capacity from 450 000 t to 1.5 million t by 2016, raising capital for its expansion plans through the Nairobi bourse.
Amid fears that the project might not take off, the CEO of Cemtech Sanghi Group has made assurances that the plant will be finished in the first half of 2014.
Paul Maxwell-Cook arranged an exclusive interview with one of Africa’s richest and most influential businessmen. This article is an abridged version of the full article, which appeared in the November 2012 issue of World Cement. Subscribers can view the full article by logging in.