27 March 2015
Holcim to sell off Siam City Cement stake 27 March 2015
Thailand: Swiss cement maker Holcim Ltd has launched an up to US$741.4m selldown of shares in Thailand's second-largest cement company Siam City Cement (SCC). Holcim is selling 63.3 million SCC shares through its Thai Roc-Cem Ltd unit at an indicative range of between US$10.73 and US$11.68, according to Thomson Reuters.
Dangote results take a dive in 2014 27 March 2015
Nigeria: Dangote Cement's pretax profit fell by 3.2% to US$928m in 2014 due to a gas shortage at its plants and low demand after prolonged wet weather. The company, Africa's biggest cement company, said that sales volumes in its main Nigerian market fell by 3.2% to 12.87Mt, weaker than the decline in the overall market of 0.8% to 21Mt. It expected market growth in Nigeria to be muted in 2015 owing to election and currency worries, worsened by the fall in government revenues that have triggered by the plunge in world oil prices.
Dangote's full-year revenues for 2014 climbed to US$1.97bn during the 12 months to 31 December 2014, up from US$1.97bn in 2013, due to growth from Dangote's other African operations. It said that unreliable gas supplies to its Obajana plant constrained production, while prolonged rainfall in the second half of last year led to a slowdown in construction. Dangote is increasingly turning its attention from Nigeria to elsewhere in Africa. In 2015 it expects to commission new cement plants in Cameroon, Zambia, Ethiopia and Tanzania.