Dangote Cement - August 2015

Dangote Cement reported a 15.9 per cent YoY increase in first-half 2015 revenue, as production at its non-Nigerian factories ramps up. Net profit over the period grew by 27.6 per cent to NGN121.8bn (US$614m) while EBITDA expanded by 14 per cent to NGN147.5bn. Group cement sales volumes were up by 13.7 per cent to 8.1Mt with strong market share gains being noted in South Africa and Senegal.

The Nigerian market accounted for NGN207.8bn of revenue with cement sales dropping by 7.5 per cent to 6.3Mt, compared to the first half of 2014. Its Gboko plant, which was mothballed in November last year, reopened in April 2015 to help meet growing demand and sold just under 200,000t during 1H15.

The company’s West and Central Africa operations generated NGN15.2bn of revenue selling almost 800,000t of cement in the opening six months of the year. Senegal got off to the flying start providing around 30 per cent of the cement sold, while sales in Ghana grew by 58 per cent despite ongoing currency issues.

In the South and East Africa market, 1Mt of cement was sold generating NGN19.2bn of sales. Sephaku made good gains in market share while plants in Zambia and Ethiopia both came on-stream. Dangote’s new plant in Tanzania is expected to begin production in September this year.

Looking ahead the company expects demand to improve in the second half of 2015 with its operations in Senegal, Cameroon, Ethiopia and Zambia forecast to make greater contributions. Estimated capex for 2015 is around US$1bn.