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This week Aliko Dangote retired as the chair of Dangote Cement. It’s a big deal, as Dangote founded parent company Dangote Industries in 1981 as an importer of bagged cement and other commodities such as rice, sugar, flour and salt. Over 40 years later Dangote Cement is the biggest cement company in Africa with a reported capacity of 52Mt/yr, operations in at least 10 countries and annual revenues of US$2.3bn. Dangote personally has also become Africa’s richest inhabitant along the way. It’s an extraordinary achievement.

As CEO Arvind Pathak, said in the company’s half-year report, “We celebrate our president, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who now steps down from the board, for his pivotal and transformative role in shaping the company’s growth, success, and lasting legacy. His visionary leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, and unwavering commitment laid the very foundation of our journey. Under his guidance, the company achieved remarkable milestones, expanded its footprint, and set new standards of excellence across the industry.” Dangote is aged 68 years and his successor as chair of Dangote Cement, Emmanuel Ikazoboh, is aged 76 years.

The key acquisitions started in 2000, when the company purchased a controlling stake in Benue Cement following its privatisation. Then, in 2002, it bought Obajana Cement and started up its first production line at the site by 2007. Obajana has since become the group’s largest plant in Nigeria with a production capacity of 16.3Mt/yr across four lines. The company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2010. Dangote Cement set up other plants in Nigeria and the Cement Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (CMAN) declared that the country was ‘self-sufficient’ in cement in 2012. Dangote the cement importer had become Dangote the cement producer. Then it became Dangote the cement exporter when it established its first overseas cement terminal in Ghana in 2011. Finally, it became Dangote the cement multinational when production plants outside of Nigeria started to be built in the early 2000s with units in Senegal and South Africa starting up in 2014. Today, in 2025, Dangote Cement has operations in Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

Naturally, one doesn’t build a conglomerate as large and successful as Dangote Industries without dividing opinion along the way. Issues on the cement side of the business include criticism of how Dangote managed to beat his rivals to buy government-run cement companies in the early 2000s. To be fair to Dangote though, other companies including Blue Circle and HeidelbergCement did the same thing at this time. Arguments about this issue resurfaced publicly in 2022 when the Kogi State Government took Dangote Cement to court over its ownership of the Obajana plant in relation to tax revenue.

Another issue in Nigeria in recent years has been repeated arguments about the price of cement. Despite the country becoming ‘self-sufficient’ in cement, the cost has prompted scrutiny by legislators. Meanwhile, Dangote Cement has continued to make handsome profits year after year. Outside of Nigeria, Dangote’s expansion plans haven’t always gone smoothly. Its plans to open a plant in Kenya, for example, appear to have been stymied repeatedly. Infamously, Dangote himself allegedly described Kenya as being more corrupt than Nigeria to Kenyan media. A long heralded listing on the London Stock Exchange never happened and acquisitions outside of Africa are yet to occur. Looking forward, future challenges include newer entrants into the Sub-Saharan African cement such as those from China. A sign of challenges to come include the pending acquisition of Lafarge Africa by Huaxin Cement as China continues to attempt to export its cement production ambitions.

As Aliko Dangote steps down as chair from his cement business, the potential for both his company and the continent it is based in remains high. Demographic factors favour economic growth in Africa in the 21st Century due to its growing population and need for development. This will require plenty of cement and Dangote Cement is well positioned to supply it.

And finally… some people take up gardening in their retirement. Should Dangote become bored in his retirement from the cement business though he could consider the example of the former CEO of Ireland-based CRH. It was announced last week that Albert Manifold has been appointed as the chair of oil and gas company BP. Dangote Group already operates an oil refinery. Perhaps future opportunities beckon.

Nigeria: Aliko Dangote has retired as the chair of Dangote Cement. He has been succeeded by Emmanuel Ikazoboh in the post.

Arvind Pathak, the CEO of Dangote Cement, said “On behalf of the board and management, we celebrate our president, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, GCON, who now steps down from the board, for his pivotal and transformative role in shaping the company’s growth, success, and lasting legacy. His visionary leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and unwavering commitment laid the very foundation of our journey.”

Dangote founded parent company Dangote Industries in 1981 as an importer of bagged cement and other commodities such as rice, sugar, flour and salt. In the early 2000s the company purchased Benue Cement and Obajana Cement from the government when they were privatised. Dangote Cement then built a new cement production line at the Obajana plant in the late 2000s before building other plants in Nigeria and expanding internationally in Sub-Saharan Africa in the 2010s. Today, Dangote Cement is the biggest cement company in Africa with a self-declared capacity of 52Mt/yr, operations in 10 countries and annual revenues of US$2.3bn.

Ikazoboh holds over 40 years of experience in management roles in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and South Africa. He started his professional career at Akintola Williams Deloitte becoming a managing partner in Cameroon and Ivory Coast and then later becoming a managing partner in West and Central Africa until 2009. In 2010 he was appointed by the Securities and Exchange as an Interim Administrator to carry out capital market reforms of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Central Securities Clearing System. From 2014 to 2000 he worked as the group chair of Ecobank Transnational. He has been a director of Dangote Cement since 2014. Ikazoboh holds a master’s of business administration (MBA) in financial management and marketing from Manchester University Business School, is a certified accountant in the UK and is a fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Chartered Accountants.

India: Pradeep Mehta has resigned as the chief financial officer (CFO) of Saurashtra Cement due to personal reasons. He previously worked as the CFO for Garware Hi-Tech Films and Arihant Superstructures from 2017 to 2024. Before this, he held managerial financial roles for companies including Essar Steel, Grassim Industry’s Birla White cement plant in Kharia Khangar, Jindal Steel and Power and Mabati Rolling Mills. He holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics from the University of Ajmer and is a registered chartered accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

US: CRH has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Eco Material Technologies, a leading supplier of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) in North America, for a total consideration of US$2.1bn. The business will subsequently operate as Eco Material Technologies, a CRH Company. CRH says that the deal positions it to meet growing demand for cementitious products for the modernisation of North America’s infrastructure and that it secures a long-term supply of critical materials in the region.

Eco Material is headquartered in Utah and operates a national network of fresh and harvested fly ash, pozzolans, synthetic gypsum and ‘green cement’ operations across a network of over 125 stockpiles, production facilities and terminals. The company partners with electric utilities to process and recycle approximately 7Mt/yr of fly ash and 3Mt/yr of synthetic gypsum and other materials, with additional capacity currently under construction.

The proposed transaction is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions and is expected to close in 2025. CRH plans to fund the transaction with cash on hand and does not expect any change in its credit ratings.

Brazil: Mover, formerly Camargo Corrêa, has reached a preliminary agreement to sell InterCement to a group of the company’s creditors.

InterCement, currently the third-largest cement producer in Brazil by volume, filed for bankruptcy protection at the end of 2024 with a combined debt of US$2.6bn. Since then, the recovery plan has faced hurdles to gain approval, including opposition from US-based bondholders who objected to earlier agreements made while InterCement was still seeking out-of-court restructuring. They claimed conflicts of interest and preferential treatment for local creditors.

The company’s debt was previously held by three main banks: Itaú Unibanco, Banco do Brasil and Bradesco. However, in June 2025, a group of foreign creditors, along with Argentina-based Pampa Energía, acquired Itaú’s US$450m in InterCement debt, followed by Banco do Brasil’s US$310m. Bradesco has joined with the other creditors in the deal, meaning that the group now controls 100% of InterCement.

US: Eco Material Technologies, a marketer of supplementary cementitious materials and producer of green cement products in North America, has announced the opening of its new Lakeview Plant in southern Oregon. This milestone marks Eco Material’s first sustainably-built manufacturing hub in the Pacific Northwest.

Adjacent to Lake County's freight rail line, the Lakeview Plant can produce up to 0.3Mt/yr of low‑carbon cement replacements. By replacing 25 - 100% of traditional Portland cement in concrete mixes with Eco Material’s advanced supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and proprietary ‘green cement’ blends, producers can reduce the carbon footprint of the cement portion of their concrete by up to 80%.

The Lakeview plant will create 30 permanent jobs, including skilled manufacturing roles and logistics positions. Approximately 75% of shipments will be distributed by rail using existing infrastructure.

“This facility represents more than just a new plant. It’s a powerful investment in Lake County’s future,” said Mark Albertson, Lake County Commissioner. “By pairing advanced, low-carbon building materials with local job creation and infrastructure development, Eco Material Technologies is bringing both economic vitality and environmental responsibility to our community. We’re proud to welcome this transformative project while creating a great partnership to benefit all of Lake County."

US: Eagle Materials recorded a record revenue of US$635m in the first quarter of the 2026 Fiscal Year (FY2026), a 4% year-on-year rise compared to the first quarter of FY2025. Its net earnings, however, fell by 8% to US$123m.
Commenting on the first quarter results, Michael Haack, president and CEO, said "Eagle had a solid start to FY2026. Against the current backdrop of ongoing macroeconomic and policy uncertainty as well as adverse weather conditions across many of our markets, our portfolio of businesses continued to perform well, and our end markets remained resilient.”

Revenue in the company’s Heavy Materials sector, which includes cement, concrete and aggregates, joint venture and intersegment cement revenues, increased by 5% to US$421m, primarily due to higher cement volumes and the contribution from a recently-acquired aggregates businesses in Western Pennsylvania and Northern Kentucky. Heavy Materials operating earnings decreased by 5% to US$87.3m, primarily due to higher cement production costs.

Cement sector revenue, including joint venture and intersegment revenue, was up 2% to US$348m, while cement sales volumes rose by 2% to 2.0Mt.

India: Cement production rose by 8% year-on-year across India in the first quarter of the 2026 Fiscal Year (FY2026), which ran from 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2025, according to ratings agency ICRA. Production rose to 120Mt for the three-month period, with June 2025 volumes 9% higher year-on-year than June 2024 at 41.3Mt. ICRA anticipates that volumes will grow by 6 - 7% year-on-year in FY2026, supported by sustained demand from the housing and infrastructure sectors. If realised, this would mean production of 480 - 485Mt in FY2026.

Italy: Cementir said that its first half results for 2025 were ‘in line’ with management expectations. The group reported revenues of €797m, a 1.9% year-on-year all compared to the same period of 2024. Its profit for the six-month period was €73.5m, a 24.2% fall.

The company reported higher revenues in its Nordic & Baltic region, as well as in Türkiye and Malaysia, although it faced foreign exchange related headwinds in Türkiye and Egypt. Cement sales volumes were broadly stable thanks, the company said, to growth in Türkiye, its Nordic & Baltic region and Malaysia. There was a decline in volumes sold in all its other regions.

The company said that its first half performance was impacted by a fire in the alternative fuel feeding system at its Gaurain plant in Belgium and technical issues during the restart of the second production line in Egypt, which led to a delay in restarting shipments.

India: HeidelbergCement India, part of Germany-based Heidelberg Materials, reported a standalone net profit of US$5.5m for the quarter ending 30 June 2025. This represented a 20.9% year-on-year rise compared to US$4.5m in the same period in 2024. The net revenue of the company rose by 12.3% to US$68.6m, while its operating profit surged by 13.4% to US$10.2m.