Robust PPC wins Zimbabwe award

Pretoria Portland Cement Company Limited (PPC) took the pole position in Construction & Property Sector Category of the 2005 Fingaz/Premier Banking Corporation 2005 Top Companies Awards presented in Harare last night. 

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed companies that were grouped together in the Construction & Property Sector Category included fellow cement manufacturer Circle Cement, Dawn Properties, Mashonaland Holdings, M & R, PGI, Radar, Turnall and brick maker Willdale. 

PPC has had a sterling performance over the years and enjoyed positive investor sentiment due to the currency hedge nature of the stock.  This has resulted in massive capital appreciation of the share, propelling the cement manufacture to the second largest ranked company on the ZSE by market capitalisation, according to analyst Sureka Ashbury. 

"Prospects going forward seem bullish with PPC announcing the planning and scoping of a one million tonne expansion program for the inland market. This would be in addition to the plans to recommission its 550 000tpa Jupiter plant in Germiston at a cost of R50 million. 

"Cement demand should increase further with the South African government’s commitment to boost infrastructure investment although there are still concerns as to how the government will fund this," she said.  Growth in the South African economy should continue to boost demand going forward and given the fact that the currency should remain under pressure in the medium term and the group continues to award shareholders generous dividends, PPC should continue to cement investor portfolios for the foreseeable future, she added.