Displaying items by tag: Rwanda

Tanzania: Burundi-based Intracom is planning to build a US$250m integrated cement plant in Kigoma Region. The project is intended to supply cement to the Lake Tanganyika region including Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the Daily News newspaper. Intracom Country Representative Rubenga Samson said that the company has obtained land in the region and construction is set to start soon. The project is reportedly using a loan from CRDB Bank to finance the project. The plant will have a cement and clinker production capacity of 0.6Mt/yr and 1Mt/yr respectively. Commissioning is scheduled for mid-2024. Intracom has also invested in a fertiliser project in Dodoma.

Kenya: Bamburi Cement’s net profit was US$11.9m in 2021, up by 22% year-on-year from 2020. The company attributed the growth to increased domestic selling prices in Kenya, due to a higher proportion of premium products sales and targeted price actions in the retail segment.

Managing director Seddiq Hassani said that he envisages cement demand growth in Bamburi Cement’s markets in the rest of 2022, supported by a stable economic environment. He looked optimistically to possible export growth arising from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s admission into the East African Community (EAC) in March 2022. He further noted the impact of the Rwanda-Uganda border closure as a downside risk.

South Africa: PPC expects its group cement sales volumes to increase by 4 - 8% year-on-year for the financial year to 31 March 2022 due to strong performance in Zimbabwe and Rwanda. In an operational update it said that sales revenue is also expected to rise by 11 – 15%. However, sales volumes and sales revenue growth was reported as slower in South Africa and Botswana due to strong demand due to home improvement projects during the previous period.

The cement producer noted that it had yet to experience any ‘meaningful uplift’ in cement sales following the government’s decision to only use locally produced on infrastructure projects. It said that cement sales in coastal regions of South Africa were behind those in the previous reporting year. It said that cement imports, mainly from Vietnam, increased by 11% and accounted for approximately 10% of the local market.

Rwanda: PPC subsidiary CimeRwa reached a total of US$115,000-worth of donations given to its host communities in the 23-month period which ended on 30 November 2021. The New Times newspaper has reported that the company distributed the donations under five pillars: education, health, enterprise development, environmental protection and sustainable infrastructure development. It partnered with the Rwanda Ministry of Education to build classrooms for schoolchildren and gave its backing to self-help initiatives for local women. Helping to overcome the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in host communities during the past two years gave a specific focus to all of the producer's efforts.

CimeRwa said "The company rose to the challenge by putting measures in place to safeguard the community it operates in. This includes the provision of face masks to employees and surrounding community members and launching extensive Covid-19 awareness campaigns." It continued “The CimeRwa team also made a contribution towards the Covid-19 fund and helped the Ministry of Health by facilitating screening and testing of all CimeRwa staff and people in surrounding communities.”

South Africa: PPC’s revenue grew by 20% year-on-year to US$324m in the first half of its financial year to 30 September 2021 from US$269m in the same period in 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 13% to US$59.6m from US$52.9m. The group reported that cement sales volumes rose by 12 – 15% in South Africa and Botswana due to strong retail demand. It also described new procurement measures supporting locally produced cement for government-funded project as “an essential first step in ensuring the economic sustainability of the South African cement industry.” It noted cement sales volumes growth of 19% in Zimbabwe despite local economic problems, but earnings declined due to additional costs incurred in importing clinker and an unplanned kiln shutdown. In Rwanda the group noted flat sales volumes and falling earnings due to a coronavirus-related lockdown.

Tanzania: Prime Cement has received a 50,000t shipment of Saudi clinker via the Port of Tanga. The Daily News newspaper has reported that the clinker will continue its journey by road to Rwanda.

Prime Cement’s business operations manager Mvayo Fabrice said "I call upon Tanzania Ports Authority to continue marketing the Port of Tanga so that we can receive more cargo and boost the regional economy and people's welfare."

South Africa: PPC’s group revenue grew by 3% year-on-year to US$625m in its financial year to 31 March 2021 from US$607m in the same period in 2020. Group earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 16% to US112m from US$96.6m. Sales and earnings rose due to a recovery in cement sales, particularly outside of Zimbabwe, and general cost cutting.

Cement sales in South Africa benefited from retail demand in the inland region, while the coastal regions experienced a lagged recovery in demand. In Rwanda, the group’s Cimerwa subsidiary reported ‘strong’ cement sales due to the roll-out of government projects, retail demand and exports to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Operations in Zimbabwe were hampered by high inflation
and a shortage of foreign currency.

“Despite the difficult trading conditions in most of our markets, our businesses have benefited from a recovery in cement demand, resulting in improved financial performance,” said chief executive officer Roland van Wijnen. He added that the group has worked on capital restructuring and refinancing projects. It has concluded an agreement with PPC Barnet's lenders, which terminates their right to recourse to PPC, signed agreements for the sale of PPC Lime and an aggregates business in Botswana and agreed with its lenders in South Africa to defer the equity capital raise in South Africa from March 2021 to September 2021.

Kenya: Athi River Mining (ARM) Cement is preparing for liquidation and delisting from the Nairobi exchange following the failure of its administrators to revive operations. The East African newspaper has reported that PricewaterhouseCoopers advised liquidation in a letter of 19 April 2021. The joint administrators reached their conclusion based on the understanding the producer will not otherwise be able to settle in full with its creditors. The company plans to liquidate on 30 September 2021.

ARM Cement went into administration in August 2018 following a default on a loan. Its operations in Kenya were sold to National Cement in October 2019. China-based Huaxin Cement acquired its Tanzanian subsidiary Maweni Limestone in May 2020. In 2019 ARM Cement’s administrators fought an attempt by minority shareholders to buy out its majority stake in South Africa-based Mafeking Cement. In January 2021 the administrators received approval from the Rwanda Development Board’s Registrar-General to commence the liquidation of Kigali Cement.

Democratic Republic of Congo/Uganda: The Democratic Republic of Congo has increased its imports of cement from Uganda by 30% to 90,000t in the two years since 1 February 2019 compared to the two prior years. The Daily Monitor newspaper has reported the reason for the increase as a Rwandan ban on Ugandan goods across the East African countries’ border. This contributed to a 3% fall in Uganda’s value of cement exports to US$59.9m in the 2020 financial year from US$61.5m in the 2019 financial year.

Rwanda: PPC subsidiary Cimerwa’s sales grew by 1% year-on-year in the 2020 financial year, in which it recorded earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$16.7m. The producer says that it recovered strongly from a 40-day shutdown of cement production due to a national coronavirus lockdown that started on 22 March 2020, with cement production of 55,000t in July 2020. It also diversified its product range during the period with the launch of its new Sure Range cements.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Albert Sige said, “These results demonstrate Cimerwa’s strong foundation, resilience and great potential. In response to the exceptional situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, the team stepped up to the challenge by putting in place measures to ensure business continuity and protect performance. As the market opened up, we were more than ready to continue supplying our customers and stay on the course of Strengthening Rwanda. We undertook various initiatives that will have long-term positive impact on the business. This includes cost savings initiatives, strengthening the organisation and applying innovation to face new challenges. Cimerwa will emerge from this situation even stronger than before.”