Nigeria: Dangote Cement has reported a pre-tax profit of US$674m for the nine months ending 30 September 2012, a rise of 13.5% compared to the same period in 2011. The company's sales revenue increased to US$1.33bn, a rise of 19.8%. The cessation of lower-margin imports and their replacement with locally-produced cement has helped to reduce the cost of sales, but the potential gains in margin were largely offset by increased use of furnace oil at higher-than expected levels during 2012.

In its unaudited results for the first nine months of 2012 Dangote reported that cement sales were 7.7Mt, with all cement sold produced locally. In spite of these achievements, the company said the third quarter sales were seriously affected by heavy rainfall and flooding but that margins were rising as gas supplies return to normal. Serious flooding affected Kogi and Benue states in the third quarter of 2012 where two Dangote plants are located.

"In spite of these problems we have increased sales by nearly 20% in the first nine months of 2012, with sales of locally produced cement rising by nearly 51%. Even in the difficult third quarter we increased shipments by nearly 8% during a period in which we estimate the industry increased volumes by less than 4%, so it is clear we are increasing our market share," said chief executive of Dangote Cement, Devakumar Edwin.

Dangote Cement is Nigeria's leading cement producer with three plants in Nigeria and plans to expand in 13 other African countries. The group is a fully integrated quarry-to-depot producer with an expected production capacity of 19Mt/yr in Nigeria by the end of 2012, increasing to as much as 35.25Mt/yr by 2015. The group plans to build a further 19Mt/yr of production and import capacity across Africa by 2015.