Dangote Cement Plans $500 Million Investment to Expand Capacity

“We are now focused on the next capital expansion cycle, which includes building grinding plants across West and Central Africa,” Chief Executive Officer Michel Puchercos, said during an investor call on Tuesday. “We are considering increasing capacity in countries with growth saturation,” he said.

The company, controlled by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, is seeing strong demand for its products and the additional capacity will help to bridge gap in supply. Sales volume rose 13.8% to 29.3 million tons last year as economies gradually recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, giving impetus to spending on housing and road infrastructure.

The cement manufacturer’s net income for the year through December rose 31% to 361 billion naira ($868 million). Revenue increased 34% to 1.38 trillion naira, according to a filing to the Nigerian Exchange Ltd.

While the company is committed to the expansion plans, actual  deployment of funds and project execution will be dependent on the ease of movement of goods and personnel in the different countries where the plants are sited, Puchercos said.

Dangote Cement will restart its share buyback initiative after executing two tranches that led to purchasing back 0.98% of its outstanding shares, Chief Financial Officer Guillaume Moyen said. This will be done after getting the approval of regulators and shareholders for the exercise.

Source: Bloomberg Business News