The three major cement producers companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, Improved their incomes by 30.65 percent to N3.07tn in 2023.
As seen from their financial statements, Dangote cement, BUA cement and Lafarge African Cement showed a revenue of N2.35tn in previous years.
Dangote Cement brought in the highest amount of revenue at N 2.21tn, boosting the figures for the industry.
BUA cement and Lafarge African also had increase of N360bn to N459bn and N373bn to N405bn respectively in 2022.
BUA Cement’s earnings after tax decreased by 31.24% over the reviewed period, from N101.01 billion to N69.45 billion.
The weaker naira caused Lafarge Africa’s post-tax profit to drop by 4.7% to N51.14 billion.
Additionally, after the pioneer status incentive expired in 2022, the corporation recorded a higher effective tax rate in 2023.
Although, Dangote cement resist the decline tread as it PAT increased by 19.17 percent to N455.58bn from N382.31bn in the previous financial year.
Dangote also paid the highest amount of dividends to its investors at N511.22bn higher than N340.81bn paid in 2022.
BUA Cement followed with N67.72bn dividend, lower than N94.82bn a year earlier while Lafarge Africa had proposed N30.60bn dividend, lower than it paid N32.22bn in 2022.
In spite of pressure from inflation and currency devaluation on the economy, Lafarge predicts that the infrastructure and construction sector in Nigeria will continue to develop until 2024.
The company said, “As a result, we maintain our positive outlook, expecting increased demand in 2024 as the economy picks up. We will continue to maximise volume opportunities across our markets and actively manage our costs. The Company remains committed to its sustainability ambitions and strategy of ‘Accelerating Green Growth’ through innovative building solutions and delivering stakeholder value.”
Lolu Alade-Akinyemi, The Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge African, grieved over the impact of the naira devaluation on Business.
He stressed that, “In the face of very material FX devaluation losses and higher effective tax rate, profit after tax declined YoY by 4.7 per cent. Our performance was largely impacted by spiralling inflation and unprecedented naira devaluation, with the attendant pressure on energy and supply chain costs.
“Despite these challenges, we continue to maintain a strong free cash flow position and a strong balance sheet, positioning us for sustainable growth over the medium to long term.
According to the CEO of BUA cement, Yusuf Binji, blamed the forex challenges in the country for the firm’s challenges.
Binji said, “Clearly, the operating environment in 2023 was challenging, given the different headwinds confronted with at the start of the year and especially with the devaluation of the naira. During the year, we launched the maiden edition of the BUA Cement Scratch and Win promo, among other initiatives, which saw BUA Cement further increase, its share of the market and resulted in a 27.4 per cent rise in revenues to N460bn from N361bn in the prior year.
“But despite the reported foreign exchange loss, EBITDA increased by 9.6 per cent to N169.3bn from N154.5bn in 2022. We are confident about the business, together with the evolving strategy to thrive,” he averred.
