Lafarge Africa hits N81bn net sales in Q1, opens up on facts behind the figures
Leading Africa’s construction solutions providers and cement giant, Lafarge Africa Plc., on Wednesday in Lagos gave step by step details on the financial performance of the company relative to the released first quarter results.
In his presentation, the Chief Financial Officer of the company, Mr. Bruno Bayet said “Lafarge Africa Plc recorded net sales of N81bn for the first quarter of 2018 and observed that the feat is however, slightly lower than the corresponding period in 2017 by one per cent due to volume effects in Nigeria and South Africa operations.
He revealed that “Lafarge Africa Plc’s commercial, logistic and industrial operations in first quarter of 2018 continued to improve strongly despite inflation,” noting that “The energy improvement plan deepened to outperform within the period under review”.
According to him, there was strong marginal rise in use of alternative fuel and coal while logistic and commercial initiatives helped to sustain market share between January and March 2018.
He explained further that even though the impacts of recession affected activities during the quarter under review, emerging indications show that the cement sector is gradually easing out of the recession which translates to higher sales and growth within the remaining parts of the year.
On the expectation going forward and general industry outlook, Bayet averred that “Full year outlook for the cement market in Nigeria remains favourable with positive signs or faster recovery in March. The company’s business turnaround actions will be consolidated further in 2018 through energy optimization as well as commercial and logistic improvement”.
Explaining more, the Chief Finance Officer of Lafarge Africa also expressed optimism that the South African economy is expected to grow better this year, stressing that “The turnaround plan of the South African operations is focused on cost containment, commercial transformation and industrial stabilization”.
In his further submission, Bayet averred that “the overall goal is to create value for shareholders through an attractive growth profile and good margins going forward.
