Kenya: East Africa Portland Cement sees 2015 profits fall 42%

East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has announced that its profits for the financial year ending in June 2016 were KES4.2bn (US$41m), having fallen by 42.1 per cent in comparison to the previous year.

According to reports in the Nation newspaper, EAPCC’s revenues rose by 5.4 per cent to KES8.9bn, but higher expenses – including financing costs that were up by 67.3 per cent – and increased cost of sales wiped out those gains.

The Nation reports that EAPCC has recommended against making a dividend payment for the period. The company’s two largest shareholders – with a combined 52 per cent stake – accused management of falsely stating the company’s financial position, arguing that the firm was in fact loss-making.

In the six months to December 2015, the company did indeed post a loss of KES531m, up considerably on the KES65.3m it lost in the same period a year earlier. Much of the current profits come from the restatement of EAPCC’s property portfolio, now valued at KES15.7bn, up from KES9.5bn a year earlier.