Cement News tagged under: Botswana

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Matsiloje Portland Cement could reopen by year end

20 July 2021, Published under Cement News

Matsiloje Portland Cement (MPC), one of only two homegrown cement producers in Botswana, is considering a return to production by the end of the year following its closure in 2018. Managing Director, Rachit Josh, told BusinessWeek the company was ‘very optimistic’ it could resume operations and was currently in talks with a reputable investor with a view of entering into a partnership to re-open the plant. "I cannot comment on what the exact situation is regarding the plant, but a...

Financial restructuring positions PCC for long-term recovery

25 June 2021, Published under Cement News

Competent management is transforming PPC's prospects for the better. Under CEO Roland van Wijnen, the company has deconsolidated the company's Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) operations, significantly de-risking the business, and improved its gearing with the sale of its lime business. Together with the tail wind provided by volume recovery in the core South African market, which has enabled the company to meet its interest payments, the JSE-listed cement producer may now be in a ...

PPC sees group revenue decline 2% YoY

16 October 2020, Published under Cement News

South Africa-based PPC has seen its group revenue decline two per cent YoY to ZAR10.241bn (US$618.23m) in the year ending 31 March 2020, compared with ZAR10.494bn in the previous year. Excluding Zimbabwe, revenue fell seven per cent from ZAR9.047bn to ZAR8.380bn, mainly due to a decline in revenues from South Africa cement. Furthermore, the company posted a loss of ZAR2.39bn in the FY19-20 against a ZAR162m profit in the year-ago period. Cost of sales declined three per cent YoY to ZAR8.2...

Matsiloje Cement MD claims his company was not protected

16 April 2019, Published under Cement News

Racjit Josh, managing director of the closed Matsiloje Portland Cement (MPC) plant, has said that it would be difficult to reopen the plant without government support to restrict cement imports. The Botswana factory, which is owned by Nortex Textiles, closed in January 2018 due to competition from South African imports and 150 people lost their jobs. In June last year, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment said that it was in the process of introducing restrictions on the importa...

Botswana to restrict cement imports

04 July 2018, Published under Cement News

The Botswana Government will restrict cement imports from September 2018. According to the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Bogolo Kenewendo, the step is part of the process aimed at stimulating economic activity and job creation.  "The proposed restrictions would be done through the issuance of import permit after the importer has submitted evidence that indeed they have satisfied the 70 per cent requirement," Mr Kenewendo said.

PPC

22 February 2018, Published under Cement News

PPC has reported improved revenue in the nine months ending 31 December 2017, compared to the same period a year earlier, driven by good operational cost management. Group EBITDA also tracked ahead YoY. A lack of large infrastructure projects continues to hamper cement volume growth in South Africa, according to the company, which estimates that overall cement demand in the country fell by 3-4 per cent in 2017. PPC saw its volumes in South Africa decline by 1-2 per cent YoY, which is an i...

PPC raises prices and volumes

29 September 2017, Published under Cement News

South Africa-based cement producer PPC said it improved effective selling prices in its South African cement business and is steadily increasing output at its operations in the rest of Africa. The company saw a rise in volumes of 15 and 35 per cent in Zimbabwe and Rwanda, respectively in the five months to August, according to an investor presentation at the RMB Morgan Stanley Big Five Investor Conference in Cape Town. Effective selling prices increased by two per cent in South Africa ...

PPC 1Q17 results in line with expectations

21 August 2017, Published under Cement News

PPC revenue for the period ended 30 June 2017 (1Q17) is ahead YoY while group EBITDA is in line with the year-ago period. The advance has been attributed to good cost management. Johan Claassen, interim CEO, said: "Our focus is firmly on delivering improved profitability and liquidity in the shorter term while our longer term strategy remains unchanged. More specifically, we will focus our management effort on the new operations in the DRC and Ethiopia, ensuring that they deliver to expec...

PPC revenue growth supported by rest of Africa cement business

08 June 2017, Published under Cement News

PPC reported that group revenues for the year ending March 2017 rose by five per cent to ZAR9641m (US$750m). The growth was supported by the rest of Africa cement business where revenues rose by nine per cent, and the aggregates and ready-mix segment which saw revenues increase by 23 per cent. Group EBITDA decreased by 13 per cent to ZAR2065m while the EBITDA margin achieved was 21.4 per cent (March 2016: 26 per cent). The decline was mainly attributable to the southern Africa cement seg...

PPC

29 June 2016, Published under Cement News

In the six months ended 31 March, 2016, PPC saw its group revenue dip by one per cent to ZAR4.5bn (US$294.01m). Group EBITDA was up by two per cent to ZAR1.1bn with an EBITDA margin of 25.4 per cent, mainly due to improved efficiencies and cost savings as part of the company’s Profit Improvement Programme. The programme, which aims to deliver ZAR400m by 2017, generated ZAR178m in the six months in question, taking the running total to ZAR390m. According to the company, this has mainly been a...