Displaying items by tag: Nigeria
Cement Company of Northern Nigeria appoints new directors
01 August 2018Nigeria: The Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) has appointed Khairat Abdulrazaq-Gwadabe and Shehu Abubakar as independent directors. It has also appointed Abbas Ahmad Gandi as a non-executive director of the company, according to the This Day newspaper.
Abdulrazaq-Gwadabe is a barrister and a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and the managing partner of A Abdulrazaq & Co, a legal firm. She obtained a B.A in European Studies and Spanish from the University of Wolverhampton, UK and the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain. She holds an LL.B from the University of Buckingham, UK and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986. She also holds a Masters Degree in Law (LL.M) from the University of Lagos. From 1999 to 2033 she was the senator for the Abuja Federal Capital Territory constituency.
Abubakar has worked for the banking industry from 1987 to 2017, recently retiring as an executive director of Keystone Bank. He has also been a director
on the boards of Global Bank of Liberia and KBL Health Care. He holds a B.Sc. (Business Management) from Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto and an MBA from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Gandi qualified as a chartered secretary from the Chelmer Institute of Higher Education, Chelmsford, UK. Amongst a career spanning two decades he worked as the Director General (Permanent Secretary) in the Sokoto State Civil Service. He was elected as a member of Constituent Assembly for the 1989 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. On his return from the Constituent Assembly he was appointed as sole administrator/chairman of Yabo Local Government Council in Sokoto State.
Nigeria: Lafarge Africa is considering raising up to US$248m in a share sale. The sale will take place in the fourth quarter of 2018 said chief financial officer Bruno Bayet whilst reporting the company’s half-year results, according to Bloomberg. Its sales rose by 5% year-on-year to US$448m in the first half of 2018 from US$427m in the same period in 2017. However, its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 25% to US$76.4m from US$102m. The subsidiary of Switzerland’s LafargeHolcim blamed its falling earnings on poor performance in South Africa.
Nigeria: The recovery of the local economy has driven the performance of Dangote Cement’s sales in the first half of 2018. Its sales revenue grew by 16.9% year-on-year to US$1.34bn from US$1.15bn. Revenue in Nigeria rose by 18.1% to US$959m and in the rest of Africa (Pan Africa) they rose by 11.4% to US$386m.
“Our first-half performance was very strong and driven by an excellent recovery in Nigeria, where our sales volumes increased by nearly 14% and revenues rose by more than 18%. Pan-African operations saw a slight fall in volumes but both revenues and earnings before interest taxation depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased because of better pricing and currency conversion effects.” said Joe Makoju, Group Chief Executive Officer. Makoju also mourned the loss of colleagues who were been killed in a gun attack in the group’s subsidiary in Ethiopia in May 2018.
Sales volumes of cement in the group’s Pan Africa region fell by 3.9% to 4.57Mt from 4.75Mt due to lower sales in Tanzania, disruptions due to civil unrest in Ethiopia and a reduction in exports from Nigeria to Ghana. However, the group noted stronger performances in other Pan-African territories, notably Zambia, and volumes outside of Nigeria benefited from maiden first half sales from Congo and increased volumes in Sierra Leone. Sales volumes in Nigeria increased by 13.9% to 7.81Mt from 6.86Mt. EBITDA rose by 20.8% to US$685m from US$568m with a particular emphasis on earnings in the group’s Pan-Africa region.
Ibeto Cement to build two plants in Ebonyi
17 July 2018Nigeria: Ibeto Cement plans to hire China’s Sinoma to build two cement plants at Nkalagu and Effium respectively in Ebonyi State. The first plant will be built next to the former Nigerian Cement plant at Nkalagu, according to the Vanguard newspaper. It will have a production capacity of 9000t/day. The second plant, at Effium, will have a production capacity of 3000t/day, due to smaller local limestone deposits.
Ibeto Cement signed a deal with Milost Global to secure funding worth US$850m in May 2018. Previously, it entered into an agreement with Sinoma International Engineering in 2015 to build a new plant at Enugu.
Nigeria: The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has awarded Dangote Cement with its Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) certification. The certification accredits the cement producer’s products and its ability to run tests on processed and raw materials in alignment with national standards, according to the Sun newspaper. Osita Anthony Aboloma, the Director General of SON, made the announcement during a tour of Dangote Cement’s Obajana plant in Kogi State.
Nigeria: The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) is in discussions with Dangote Cement to transport cement. Fidet Okhiria told the Herald newspaper that talks between the companies are at an advanced stage. He also disclosed that the Lagos to Ibadan and Itakpe to Warri standard gauge railway line projects are on course and are about to start being tested respectively.
Africa: The establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is expected to help Dangote Cement’s production capacity to expand 27.5Mt/yr by 2030. The Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN) made the forecast as part of a report on the potential benefits of the free trade area, according to this This Day newspaper. The report follows a meeting of the African Union in Mauritania in late June 2018. It used the cement industry as a case study for the benefits of the free trade arrangement.
Nigeria: Aramando Martinez, the director of Dangote Cement’s Ibese plant, says that the unit exports 15 – 20% of its total production to markets in Benin, Togo and Ghana. The plant has a production capacity of 12Mt/yr, according to the Business Daily newspaper. Martinez added that the plant has also concluded plans to export 2Mt of clinker to grinding plants in Ghana and Cameroon in the second half of 2018.
Dangote Cement opens terminal in Imo state
04 July 2018Nigeria: Dangote Cement has opened a terminal at Owerri in Imo State. The unit was officially inaugurated by the governor of the state, Chief Rochas Okorocha with the president of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, also in attendance, according to the This Day newspaper. In a speech Dangote said that the state was one of the ‘major’ markets domestically for the company.
CCNN to merge with Kalambaina Cement
28 June 2018Nigeria: The Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) plans to merge with Kalambaina Cement, a subsidiary of BUA Cement. CCNN operates a 0.5Mt/yr plant at Sokoto and Kalambaina Cement runs a 1.5Mt/yr plant, also in Sokoto state, according to the This Day newspaper. The merger is intended to improve CCNN’s competitiveness locally and take advantage of the newly-built Kalambaina Cement plant.