Lafarge Africa Plc notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) of the clearance by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to open its announced N89.2 billion Rights Issue.
In the notice signed by Adewunmi Alode, Company Secretary, Lafarge Africa Plc, the company noted that the offer which opened on Monday December 17, 2018 will close on Wednesday January 23, 2019.
Lafarge Africa will raise N89.2 billion by way of a Rights Issue of 7,434,367,256 shares at N12 per share, by issuing 6 new shares for every 7 shares held by shareholders as at December 4, 2018 which is the Qualification Date.
Chapel Hill Denham is the Lead Issuing House to the Rights Issue while Stanbic IBTC Capital is the Joint Issuing House.
The rights being offered are tradable on the floor of The Nigeria Stock Exchange for the duration of the offer.
Lafarge Africa Plc has outstanding shares of 8,673,428,240 units while its market capitalisation is in excess of N116.223billion. The Rights price represents about 10.45percent discount on Lafarge Africa’s traded closing price of N13.4kobo as at Monday December 3, 2018.
Lafarge Africa Plc is a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, a world leader in building materials. The company has operations in Nigeria – Ewekoro and Sagamu plants in Ogun State, Ashakacem in Gombe State, Mfamosing in Cross Rivers State, Atlas cement in Rivers State and Ready-Mix Nigeria and varied operations in South Africa and Ghana with total group capacity of around 14 million Metric Tonnes.
In September, the Board of Lafarge Africa Plc approved the refinancing of the shareholder loan to $293million with longer maturity and a Right Issue of up to N90billion. The restructuring is aimed at reducing Lafarge Africa Plc leverage position as well as strengthen its profitability.
In the third-quarter (Q3) to September 30, 2018, the cement maker berthed at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with group revenue increasing to N234.3billion, from N223.6billion in Q3’ 2017, representing 4.8percent increase. The company said its positive performance in Q3’18 was mainly driven by strong volume growth in Nigeria and favourable pricing trends in South Africa.
The group pre-tax loss of N14.36billion implies a decline of 1,413.2percent when compared to N1.094billion pre-tax profit reported in third-quarter (Q3) of 2017. Loss After Tax (LAT) stood at N10.3billion against N938million profit after tax in Q3’17, representing a decline of 1206percent.
Earnings before tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the third quarter increased significantly as a result of improved performance in South Africa while it was down for the nine-month period due to South Africa’s performance in the first two quarters of 2018.
