Nigerian-based Lafarge Africa has seen revenues fall by 29 per cent to NGN52.4bn (US$263m) in the first quarter of 2016, leading the company to record an after-tax loss of NGN1.9bn (US$9.5m).

According to Bloomberg, Lafarge – which did not comment on the results – had said late last year that pressure on prices and a market slowdown were presenting challenging trading conditions in Nigeria and other African countries.

Lanre Buluro, an equity broker and analyst with Primera Africa Securities Ltd, said: “The surprising weak performance is most likely due to production issues across its plants”. He added that price competition from Dangote might also have contributed.

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Dangote’s 1Q2016 results – released earlier in the week – saw its Nigerian volume sales rise sharply, by 45 per cent, but price cutting held revenue increase down to 5.7 per cent.