Nigeria: Dangote Cement recorded a net profit of US$422m in the first half of 2020, up by 5.8% year-on-year from US$308m in the first half of 2019. Net sales were US$1.23bn, up by 2% from US$1.21bn. Nigerian sales made up 70% of the total at US$861m, up by 1.2% from US$850m.

The company said, “Most Covid-19 lockdown measures started at the end of March 2020 and peaked in April 2020. The response by the authorities varied in nature from specific temporary restrictions in some countries to a complete temporary lockdown for non-essential businesses. Our operations in South Africa, Congo and Ghana were shut down due to full or partial lockdown in most of April 2020. By early May 2020, lockdown had eased, and all our businesses were operational.”

Regarding its Nigerian operations, it said, “Lagos, Abuja and Ogun states locked down from 31 March 2020 to 4 May 2020. As a result, April 2020 volumes were heavily impacted and 28% lower than in April 2019. Other states joined with complete or partial lockdown during the month.” It estimated that a recession would strike the economy before 31 December 2020, compounded by the Covid-19 outbreak and a first-half global oil price slump.