Dangote Cement provides results for Q1 2019

Financial highlights

• Group revenue down 0.8% to ?240.2B.
• Group EBITDA down 11.2% to ?111.8B, 46.5% margin.
• Nigeria EBITDA down 10.4% to ?103.4B, 60.9% margin.
• Pan-African EBITDA down 9.3% to ?11.9B, 16.9% margin.
• Net debt of just ?53.5B, or 0.12x annualised Q1 2019 EBITDA.

Operating highlights

• Group volumes up 2.3% to 6.3 million t.
• Nigerian operations deliver nearly 4.0 million t, third-highest quarterly volume despite loss of weekends to elections.
• Pan-African volumes up 4.8% to 2.3 million t.
• Joe Makoju, Group Chief Executive Officer, said:

“It was a challenging quarter with delays to the Nigerian elections that impacted sales, increased discounting in Nigeria and tougher market conditions in South Africa and other Pan-African markets. In addition, our variable costs were hit by foreign exchange effects, as well as higher fuel and distribution costs. Unrealised foreign exchange losses driven by the variation of local currencies versus US Dollar also impacted negatively our financial results. Combined with the muted volume growth across our operations, all of these factors contributed to a slight fall in revenues and a larger impact on profitability.

Despite these challenges, we had our third-best volume quarter in Nigeria and increased Pan-African sales volumes by nearly 5%. We are optimistic that the Nigerian market will accelerate when the government and private enterprise focus on infrastructure and economic development and we have taken steps to protect our margins by introducing a price increase at the beginning of April.

Our balance sheet remains strong with a low level of net debt resulting from continuing strong cash generation. This financial strength is what enables us to maintain our position as Africa’s leading cement company, despite the challenging conditions we have seen so far in 2019.

Full results, including an operational and financial review, can be accessed here.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/africa-middle-east/29042019/dangote-cement-provides-results-for-q1-2019/