Nigeria’s third Largest Cement producer, Lafarge (Wapco) Cement Plc has experienced a sharp increase in its earnings as profit grew by 97percent to N18 billion from N9.14 billion in the corresponding period last year.
Findings by BusinessDay showed sales of cement increased by 25.96percent and raked in N87.99 billion while sales of aggregates and concrete grew by 62.29percent generating N2.52 billion during the period.
In the same vein, the sale of mortar increased by 60.41percent, to rake in N98.94 million. The company also made money from income earned from short-term fixed deposit investments, raking in a total of N54.69 million.
“Coming after our very strong FY 2021 results, our Q1 2022 performance confirms the continued growth trajectory of our business. We are equally pleased with the progress we are making on sustainability; our use of affordable clean energy and agro-ecology footprint are in accordance with our net zero pledge journey,” said Khaled El Dokani, CEO of Lafarge Africa in a statement.
Revenue climbed 26.9 percent to N90.6 billion as against N71.4 billion in the previous year.
Further analysis by BusinessDay shows the total revenue of N90.6 billion was obtained by cement (97%), aggregate & concrete (2.7%) and other products (0.3%) in March 2022.
The cement company saw an increase in its operating profit which is its total earnings from its core business functions for a given period, excluding the deduction of interest and taxes which stood at N22 billion from N14.7 billion in the comparable period.
Read also: Lafarge Africa’s 2021 profit jumps 65% on sales growth
Total assets jumped 1.6 percent to reach N535.6 billion, as against N526.8 billion in March 2021.
Selling and distribution costs grew to N15.02 billion as against N12.85 billion in the period under review.
The company’s net cash flow generated from operating activities dropped to N946.1 million loss in March 2022 from a gain of N29 billion in March 2021.
Net cash flow used in investing activities recorded a year on year loss of N2.44 billion in March 2022 compared from N3.05 billion in March 2021.
Net cash flow used in financing activities recorded N7.18 billion from N2.21 billion year on year loss.
Technical service fees increased to N1.41 billion in March 2022 from N573.4 million in March 2021.
Other income rose to N165.6 million as against N148 million in the comparable periods.
The cement maker saw its inventories drop in the first quarter of 2022 to N43.3 billion, coming from N45 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
Loan and borrowings increased to N24.6 billion from N23.2 billion in the comparable period.
Lafarge Africa is in the business of manufacturing and marketing of cement and other cementitious products such as Ready-Mix Concrete, Aggregates, Fly-Ash etc. On July 15, 2016, Lafarge S.A. France and Holcim Limited, Switzerland, two large global players, merged to form LafargeHolcim Group, based in Zurich, Switzerland.
