Dangote Cement's group revenues slip 3% in 1H19

Dangote Cement Plc announced its unaudited results for 1H19 with group revenue reaching NGN467.7bn (US$1.291bn), down three per cent, and group EBITDA at NGN217.9bn, down 11.4 per cent.

Nigerian EBITDA for Dangote Cement fell 11.6 per cent to NGN200.6bn and pan-African EBITDA slipped to NGN23.9bn, down 7.5 per cent. Net debt stood at NGN318.6bn.

Group cement sales totalled 12.28Mt in 1H19, while domestic cement sales volumes reached 7.59Mt in 1H19. Nigerian revenues stood at NGN328.3m in 1H19.

Pan-African volumes up 2.7 per cent to nearly 4.7Mt, despite challenges in South Africa and Ethiopia,
and pan-African revenues reached NGN140.1m.

Joe Makouju, group CEO, said, "Group sales volumes were only slightly down on last year and this was a solid performance against teh impact of delayed elections and increased competition from new capcity in Nigeria, as well as operational and economic challenges in key territories such as Ethiopia and South Africa. However, we saw a stringer performance from Tanzania, which is now running on gas turbines, and also from Senegal, where our sales volumes are more than 100 per cent of our rated capacity.

"Our variable costs continue to be affected by foreign exchange effects as well as higher fuel and distribution costs," added Mr Makouju.

Dangote Cement's group capacity currently stands at 45.55Mta, of which 29.25Mta is installed in Nigeria.