Africa & The Middle East

Ireland-based building materials multination, CRH, has dropped its interest in acquiring South African cement maker, PPC.

Dangote Cement has partnered with e-commerce platform, Jumia Nigeria, to offer sales of cement online.

Ohorongo Cement has won the Large Enterprises Services of the Year award at Namibia’s Annual National Quality Awards, reflecting its commitment to local production and quality.

Dangote Cement has commissioned its new Mfila cement plant in the Republic of the Congo.

Namibian cement producer, Ohorongo Cement, is to begin using tyre-derived fuels at its Sargberg cement plant.

Boosted by growth in Rwanda and Zimbabwe, as well as improved finance costs, PPC reported positive half-yearly results with a strong rise in net profits.

PPC has rejected a bid by Fairfax Africa Investments for a stake in the cement maker that would also have seen the company merge with rival, Afrisam.

Weak performance in Brazil helped to drag Votorantim’s earnings down year-on-year in 3Q17, despite positive results from elsewhere.

Lafarge Africa Plc has partnered with Canaancity Consortium, which is developing a number of estates in Nigeria, to offer construction-related health and safety training.

CRH has joined the battle for control of South Africa largest cement maker, less than a month after agreeing to take over the largest independent US producer, Ash Grove Cement.

Buzzi Unicem has announced its results for the period ending 30 September 2017.

Cementir continued to reap the benefit of acquisitions made last year, announcing cement sales up 26.2% in 3Q17.

HeidelbergCement saw cement and clinker sales up 2% in 3Q17 on positive reports from all geographies except North and East Europe and Central Asia.

The Dande quarry has had to withdraw from the Quarry Life Award due to safety concerns.

Titan Group faced extreme weather in the US and challenging markets elsewhere in 3Q17, but remains positive over the year to date on US growth.