East African Portland Cement defaults on KCB Bank loan

East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has defaulted on a KES263m (US$2.6m) loan it took from KCB Bank, prompting the lender to recall the credit facilities, reports PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

PwC's report relates to an audit of the cement manufacturer’s accounts for the year ended June 2019. "In the year under review, the entity defaulted on the contractual loan repayments to KCB Bank, totalling KES263m, prompting the lender to issue a demand notice dated 8 April 2019 for all its facilities," PwC said.

EAPCC made a pretax loss of KES2.8bn in the year ended June, according to the report. Sales in the review period dropped 45 per cent to KES2.8bn.

"The throughput in the period was approximately 300,000t, against the plant capacity of 1.3Mt, pointing to the severe underutilisation of the plant, which translated to low revenues," said PwC.