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.