Lafarge Africa reports 173% growth in nine months

Lafarge Africa Plc, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, a regional dealer in building materials, on Monday announced over 173 per cent profit in its nine months of operations.

In its quarterly performance report to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the company said its operating profit rose from N2.79 billion in the third quarter of 2018 to over N7.64 billion in the corresponding period of this year.

Lafarge Africa cement operations are in the South-west (Ewekoro and Sagamu in Ogun State), North-east (Ashaka, in Gombe State), South-east (Mfamosing, Cross Rivers State) with Ready-Mix operations in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

The company, which significantly de-leveraged with net financial debt reduction of about 79.2 per cent, has a current installed cement production capacity of 10.5 Metric tons per annum.

The report said the company recorded a strong third quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization increase by 32.7 per cent N8.6 billion to N11.4 billion, third quarter finance costs declined by over 70.6 per cent.

The company also recorded a positive net income for four consecutive quarters, with a successful divestment from Lafarge South Africa Holdings.

The Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge Africa, Michel Puchercos, stated: “Our Strategy 2022 -building for growth – in Nigeria is delivering the expected results with strong EBITDA and operating profit improvement, robust net income and operating cash flow development.

“Our turnaround and cost reduction strategy in the third quarter continue to deliver strong margins with improvement in commercial transformation, logistics performance, industrial & energy efficiencies. Our ambition is to continue the acceleration of growth and earnings in fourth quarter.”