Displaying items by tag: Kenya
EAPCC chairman and board directors face probe
19 December 2013Kenya: The Ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprise Development has recommended that the East African Portland Cement (EAPCC) directors be investigated over a chaotic annual general meeting held on 17 December 2013.
Wilson Songa, principal secretary of the Ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprise Development, said that the conduct of EAPCC chairman and board members, including chief executive Kepha Tande and directors Titus Naikuni and Hamish Keith and company secretary J Maonga should be investigated in relation to the AGM.
Songa argued that the AGM should be declared a sham and the company was directed by the CMA not to affect any of the resolutions passed at the meeting. Songa wants the CMA to order EAPCC to reconvene the AGM and an independent person nominated by the capital markets regulator to oversee the meeting. Songa also wants the CMA to confirm that the nomination and election of Didier Tresarrieu as a director was null and void since it was not carried out in accordance with articles of the company.
The current stand-off re-ignites a long-running battle for the control of the cement maker between the government and France's Lafarge. The Treasury holds a 25% stake in EAPCC while NSSF holds 27% shareholding. This gives the government a 52% stake in the company, which has seen it ranked as a state corporation.
Increased clinker imports
16 December 2013Kenya: Increased clinker imports have been recorded at the Port of Mombasa, Kenya.
The surge in clinker imports is attributed to an unprecedented boom in the construction industry at the end of 2013 as a result of improved economic growth, rising disposable incomes and an expanding real estate industry.
Savannah Cement appoints Ronald Ndegwa as first CEO
09 December 2013Kenya: Savannah Cement has appointed Ronald Ndegwa as its first Chief Executive Officer on 9 December 2013. The company was commissioned in July 2012 as Kenya's sixth cement manufacturer and has been operating without a substantive CEO since that time.
Savannah Cement board chairman, Benson Ndeta, disclosed that Ndegwa, who previously served as the director of supply chain at Tata Chemicals Magadi (Magadi Soda), has joined the firm with a clear brief to spearhead the business development agenda. Savannah Cement currently operates a state of the art, eco-friendly cement grinding plant with a capacity of 1.5Mt/yr.
"By retaining Ndegwa, a seasoned manufacturing and business management professional, Savannah Cement is making a bold statement that we intend to play a very key role in Kenya's, and indeed East Africa's, development agenda," said Ndeta.
Nigeria: Dangote Cement intends to reach a total cement production capacity of 50Mt/yr by 2016 which will make it Africa's largest cement producer. The company's chief executive, DVG Edwin, summarised production projects by the Nigeria-based cement producer: "Our plant in Senegal will soon be producing cement and our South African venture, Sephaku Cement, is well on track to open in early 2014. These two plants will be our first production ventures outside Nigeria as we aim to become Africa's leading supplier of cement," said Edwin.
Edwin revealed that construction work is underway at Mugher, Ethiopia for a 2.5Mt/yr cement plant. Operation is scheduled to begin in October 2015 at a 3Mt/yr gas-fired plant in Mtwara, Tanzania. Cement production is expected to start in mid-2014 at a 1.5Mt/yr in Ndola, Zambia. In Cameroon a 1.5Mt/yr grinding plant will be completed in the first half of 2014 and an integrated 1.5Mt/yr cement plant is expected to begin production in the second quarter of 2016. A 1.5Mt/yr cement plant in South Sudan and a 1.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Kenya are both set to become operational in 2016.
Along the coast of West Africa Dangote nears completion of import facilities to receive and bag bulk cement produced in Nigeria and Senegal. Additional import facilities in Sierra Leone are due to begin by the end of 2013 or early 2014.
In Liberia Edwin said that the order for equipment has been made for an import facility in Freeport Monrovia. Imports into Liberia are expected to commence in early 2015. The company plans to build a 1.5Mt/yr grinding plant in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with operations projected to begin in early 2015. In Ghana, the company plans to open 1.5Mt/yr grinding plants in Tema and Takoradi by early 2015. Finally, Dangote cement has recently announced its intention to build an integrated 1.5Mt/yr plant in Niger.
Athi River Mining to double production
13 November 2013Tanzania/ Kenya: Athi River Mining (ARM) will spend over US$400m on the construction of new cement plants in Tanzania and Kenya.
Pradeep Paunrana, the company's chief executive, said a new plant in Tanga, Tanzania, would have a capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and will be completed within five months. "The entire Tanga project coupled with the Dar es Salaam grinding plant that has been in operation since 2012 has cost US$150m," he said. ARM aims to increase its market share in Tanzania from 17% to 25% by the end of 2014.
In 2014 ARM will embark on the construction of a US$250m clinker factory in Kenya to boost its cement production capacity to 5Mt/yr.
"We are looking at doubling our cement production in Kenya within a four-year period from 2.5Mt in 2012," said Paunrana. He added that ARM expect immense growth in the Kenyan cement industry in the second half of 2013 due to the thriving real estate industry.
According to a 2013 Kenyan market update report by CW Group, a US-based cement consultancy company, despite the low rates reported in 2012, cement demand is projected to increase by 10%/yr and exceed 6.3Mt/yr by 2017. Kenya's cement consumption per capita is also forecast to reach an important milestone in 2014 when it will surpass, for the first time in its history, 100kg per inhabitant.
East African Portland Cement Company reports US$28m net profit
30 October 2013Kenya: The East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has reported a net profit of US$28m for its financial year that ended on 30 June 2013. In the previous year the company reported a loss of US$11m. Revenue grew by 8% year-on-year to US$108bn. The improvement was attributed to improved sales and cost cutting.
"The results were lifted partly by a tax credit of US$4.2m and a US$8.4m net gain from revaluation of free hold property," said EAPCC Managing Director Kephar Tande. He added that turnover grew while the cost of sales fell due to cost management and a rationalisation of operational activities. Speaking generally, Tande said that the EAPCC is relying on increased infrastructure projects in Kenya to lift demand and it has appealed to the government to remove duty exemption on imported cement meant for government projects.
In the current financial year to 30 June 2014 the EAPCC plans to invest US$5.9m on plant and equipment upgrades. Overall the cement producer intends to spend up to US$32m until 2015 on building a new packing line, acquisition of new clinker and grinding capacity and the creation of a new line of pre-cast concrete products.
ARM Cement forecasts profits to rise by 35% in 2013
04 October 2013Kenya/Tanzania: ARM Cement expects its revenue to grow year-on-year at a slightly faster rate in 2013 due new a new cement plant in Tanzania that increased its production capacity. Chief executive Pradeep Paunrana made the forecast in an interview with Reuters. The Kenyan cement producer expects similar growth in 2014.
A new cement grinding plant in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania that was commissioned in 2012 increased ARM's cement production capacity by 0.75Mt/yr to 1.75Mt/yr. Another 1.2Mt/yr clinker plant in Tanga, Tanzania is due to start production in early 2014.
In July 2013 ARM reported that its pre-tax profits for the first half of 2013 had rise by 28% year-on-year to US$11.5m.
East African Portland Cement Company asks Kenyan government to renew CEO Kephar Tande
02 October 2013Kenya: The East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has asked the Kenyan government to renew the term of its CEO, Kephar Tande, whose current three year term is set to end in October 2013. Tande's re-appointment presents a test to the new Kenyan government, elected in March 2013, which may follow its predecessors and attempt to influence the composition of the cement producer's management board.
"The board is satisfied with Tande's work and we have asked the Cabinet secretary to offer him another term," said the chairman of EAPCC, Mark ole Karbolo, in an interview with Kenyan newspaper Business Daily. He added that the EAPCC will announce a profit of nearly US$12m for the year ending June 2013.
In 2012 the government unsuccessfully attempted to oust eight EAPCC directors including the chief executive, accusing them of poor governance. The directors, including Karbolo, Kenya Airways CEO Titus Naikuni and lawyer Hamish Keith, moved to court to block the move following the state's directive to disband the cement maker's board. The court reinstated them in a legal battle that also saw former President Kibaki's appointment of Karbolo's replacement revoked.
Dangote planning US$400m cement plant in Kenya
09 September 2013Kenya: Dangote Cement has released plans to build a US$400m cement plant in Kenya, according to the president's office of Kenya. Dangote's CEO Alhaji Aliko Dangote was part of a three-day state visit by Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan to the east African country to build bilateral trade agreements. No further information on timescales or production capacity was released.
East African cement firms to benefit from construction boom
27 August 2013Kenya/Tanzania/Uganda: Cement makers in east Africa are set to get a major lift from an expected surge in demand driven by double-digit growth of the construction sector in the region, according to stockbrokerage firm Kestrel Capital.
Kestrel's analysts say that the construction sector is likely to outpace economic growth, expanding by up to 13%/yr compared to expected GDP growth of 6.0%/yr, 5.5%/yr and 7.0%/yr in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania respectively.
The growth is expected to boost sales for regional cement makers and reverse the fortunes of Kenya's East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC), the performance of which has been damaged by management wrangles at the company.