Kenya: East African Portland Cement (EAPCC) has issued a profit warning due to mounting losses caused by higher financing costs and currency market losses. Its loss for the half year that ended on 31 December 2015 grew to US$5.22m from US$0.64m in the same period in 2014. The cement producer also expects its profits for the 2015 – 2016 financial year, which ends on 30 June 2016, to fall by at least 25%.
EAPCC’s financing costs rose by 50% to US$2.74m, which it attributed to increased use of debt to finance capital projects, including the setting up of a third packing line to support higher sales volumes. Sales revenue rose by 12% year-on-year to US$45.2m from US$40m. Sales volumes rose by 16%.