Dangote sees cement sales increase by 29.4% in 1H13

Dangote Cement Plc has released its results for 1H13, which saw sales increase to 6.76 million t. This is 29.4% greater than the corresponding period in 2012 and is also higher than the Nigerian cement industry’s growth rate for 1H13, which is estimated at around 14.2%. Profit before tax increased by 52.8% y/y from N70.8 billion in 1H12 to N107.7 billion in 1H13. Gross profit and operating profit also improved, rising by 43.8% to N132.1 billion and by 45.4% to N111.1 billion, respectively.

The cement manufacturer plans to expand its production capacity within Nigeria from the current 19.25 million tpa to 29 million tpa in 2015 and 55 million tpa by the end of 2016.

“We estimate our market share to have remained at about 62% across the first half of 2013,” said Chief Executive of Dangote Cement Plc, Devakurma Edwin. “Pricing remains steady across our operations. The strong growth we achieved was satisfied by additional output from the Ibese plant, which opened in the first quarter of 2012, and higher output from Obajana (the new Line 3 came on stream in the first quarter of 2012). Furthermore we achieved this strong rate of growth despite the fact that our Gboko plant was mothballed during January.”

“At the same time we are increasing our commitment to deliver cement directly to our customers and all of our plants, substantially increasing “direct-to-customer” deliveries of all our dispatches,” Mr Edwin added.

Adapted from press release by Louise Fordham

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/africa-middle-east/29072013/dangote_cement_sales_and_profit_increase_1h13_73/