23 July 2018
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.
Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales revenue grew by 7.5% year-on-year to US$184m in the first half of 2018 from US$171m in the same period in 2017. Its production of cement rose by 3.9% to 1.08Mt from 1.04Mt and clinker production rose by 15.9% to 0.87Mt from 0.75Mt. Its consolidated earnings before interest taxation depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 12.2% to US$54.7m from US$48.7m.
The cement producer said that, despite growth, it felt that the pace was lower than its expectations. Infrastructure reconstruction in the north of the country had suffered delays and self-construction has grown at lower rates than expected. It party blamed this on the country’s qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup as funding was focused on ‘soccer-related categories.’
Colombia: Cemex Colombia has been fined US$429,000 for taking groundwater from the Tunjuelo River without permission. The sanction of the District Department of the Environment of Bogotá imposed the penalty, according to the La Republica newspaper. However, the settlement exonerated Cemex of causing any environmental damage. The company says it does not plan to file any legal appeal for the sanction.
Georgia: HeidelbergCement Georgia plans to close a kiln at its Rustavi cement plant due to imports from Iran. It will also reduce production at the Dedoplitskaro limestone quarry, according to GBC Daily News. The Georgian Cement Association has lobbied the government to enact anti-dumping measures against Iranian imports.
Russia: The management of Gornozavodskcement is looking for a co-investor to upgrade its cement plant to a dry production method. Previously the company had conducted negotiations with Ireland’s CRH over the upgrade but these have been abandoned, according to Construction and Real Estate Daily News. The cement producer operates a plant near Perm.
Orient Cement to upgrade Devapur plant 23 July 2018
India: Orient Cement plans to upgrade its Devapur in Adilabad District, Telangana. It will invest US$290m towards more than doubling the unit’s cement production capacity to 7.5Mt/yr from 3Mt/yr, according to the Press Trust of India. The cement producer obtained first stage clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to expand the existing integrated cement plant. However, final clearance from the Ministry is still awaited.
India: Birla Corporation plans to increase its cement production capacity to 20Mt/yr by 2021. At present it has a capacity of 15.5Mt/yr, according to the Hindu newspaper. The company plans to increase its capacity by both expanding existing units and building new ones. It acquired Reliance Cement in mid-2016.
India: UltraTech Cement plans to build five waste heat recovery (WHR) units with an investment of US$72.6m. The new WHR units will have a capacity of 63MW and they will take the company’s total WHR capacity to 121MW, according to the Hindu newspaper. It is anticipated that the cement producer will be able to meet half of its power requirements from its WHR plants. They are also intended to protect the company from changes in the price of coal.