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China: China Resources Cement has more than doubled its profit so far in 2017 by increasing its prices. Its turnover rose by 16.4% year-on-year to US$2.61bn in the first nine months of 2017 from US$2.24bn in the same period in 2016. Its profit tripled to US$337m from US$102m. At the same time its average selling price for cement rose by 21.5%.
Cement sales volumes fell by 9% to 52.2Mt from 57Mt but clinker volumes rose to 6.16Mt from 2.94Mt. By region cement sales volumes fell in most areas, with the exception of Hainan.
Sönmez Çimento starts commissioning Bedeschi shiploader 23 October 2017
Turkey: A shiploader that Bedeschi has supplied to Sönmez Çimento is being commissioned. The slewing, luffing and travelling type shiploader has a loading capacity up to 1000t/hr. It will serve Sönmez Çimento’s integrated plant in the Adana Yumurtalık Free Zone. It follows a previous port installation by Bedeschi at Yesilovacik.
Dangote Cement remains interested in PPC 20 October 2017
Nigeria/South Africa: Onne van der Weijde, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Dangote Cement, has said that his company still interested in buying South Africa’s PPC for the ‘right’ price. Weijde made the comments on an analysts call about the cement producer’s nine-month results, according to Reuters. He added that the South African company was a good fit for Dangote Cement.
Nigeria: Dangote Cement’s domestic cement sales volumes fell by 11.8% year-on-year to 2.8Mt in the third quarter of 2017 compared to 3.1Mt in the same period in 2016. The company has blamed the fall on the country’s economic recession that ended in the second quarter of 2017.
Overall the group’s sales dropped by 10.1% to 16.5Mt in the first nine months of the year for all regions, despite strong growth outside of Nigeria. Despite this, its revenue rose by 36.5% to US$1.67bn from US$1.23bn in both Nigeria and the rest of Africa for the first three months of 2017. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose similarly.
“Dangote Cement has continued to perform strongly in 2017 with revenues up nearly 37%, despite a fall in volumes. In our key operations in Nigeria we have significantly improved our fuel mix and this has helped increase margins across the group. It is especially good for Nigeria because most of the coal we are using is mined in our own country,” said chief executive officer Onne van der Weijde. He added that the cement producer’s other African operations were performing ‘strongly’ with sales growth in Cameroon, Ethiopia and Senegal. It started operations at its 1.5Mt/yr Mfila cement plant in Republic of Congo in late September 2017.
Quantum Global sells stake in Savannah Cement 20 October 2017
Kenya: Quantum Global has sold its stake in Savannah Cement following approval by the Kenyan Competition Commission. This follows the sale of its stake in Seruji, the Mauritius-based firm that owns a 60% stake in Savannah Cement, according to the Standard newspaper. Quantum Global’s departure gives entrepreneur Benson Ndeta more control over Savannah Cement, which will now own Seruji. Ndeta also holds a stake in Savannah Heights, the other shareholder in Savannah.
Private equity firm Quantum Global has held the asset since 2015 through its US$1.1bn Infrastructure Fund. Savannah Cement started operating in 2012 and it runs a 1.5Mt/yr grinding plant at Athi-River near Nairobi.