South Africa: Costs relating to Sephaku Holdings' new cement business Sephaku Cement dragged the group to a loss in the year that ended in March 2014, though management has said that indications are positive for its cement venture.

Sephaku Holdings has a 36% share of Sephaku Cement, which in January 2014 completed the construction of two plants in North West Province and Mpumalanga. Nigeria's Dangote Cement is the majority shareholder in Sephaku Cement. Sephaku Holdings reported a post-tax loss of US$260,300 in the period under review, largely due to a loss from Sephaku Cement of US$1.37m.

Sephaku Holdings' latest results include little revenue from the cement business, as one of the plants began producing only in January 2014 and the other is due to begin production in July 2014. The South African cement market is currently oversupplied and is likely to remain that way for some time, but Sephaku and another newcomer, Mamba Cement, are banking on healthy demand growth and cost-efficiency advantages from their modern plants. Mamba has a plant under construction near Northam in Limpopo.