BY Onome Amuge.
The management of Nigeria’s second-largest cement manufacturing company, BUA Cement Plc, said it has commenced the process of obtaining loans for the expansion of its integrated plant in Kalambaina, Sokoto State.
The company confirmed this in a statement filed to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), stating that it is in discussions with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), serving as lead arranger, to convince commercial banks and other top lenders to provide the funding package needed to execute the project.
“In furtherance of our disclosure obligations pursuant to Chapter 17 of the Rulebook, BUA Cement Plc hereby notifies Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), its esteemed shareholders and the investing public that the company has gone into a discussion with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), serving as lead arranger in conjunction with a number of other lenders in a syndication pool, to obtain a loan for the expansion of BUA Cement’s integrated cement plant in Kalambaina, Sokoto State, Nigeria which shall include increasing its capacity from 2.0 million tons per annum (MTPA) to 8.0 MTPA and the development of other ancillary utilities,” a part of the statement dated July 25, 2022 read.
BUA Cement, which prides itself as the largest producer in its North-West, South-South, and South-East regions, has also expressed its commitment to dominate the South West region of the country. The company has also maintained that it is positioned to move beyond Nigeria towards solving West Africa’s cement under-capacity, while driving economic growth and development.
The publicly listed firm recorded a strong performance in 2021 as its profit rose 48 percent to N33.14 billion.
Revenue from cement sales also stood on a bullish platform, rising by over 58 percent. This, according to the company, was underpinned by a hike in cost of materials which rose 66 percent to N15.18 billion in Q1 2022 from N9.14 billion in Q1 2021.
