
Displaying items by tag: Beni Suef
Egypt: Beni Suef Cement Company has reported a 32% year-on-year decline in profit for the first quarter of 2024, with a net profit after tax of US$873,000 compared to US$1.3m in the same period in 2023. Despite the fall in profits, sales rose significantly to US$14m from US$5.8m in the first quarter of 2023.
Court halts appeal against privatisation of cement plant
20 January 2015Egypt: The Supreme Administrative Court has decided to pause an investigation into the appeal against the privatisation of Beni Suef Cement Company.
The court ordered the reinstatement of workers to the company, but decided to suspend looking into the appeal of the privatisation. The suspension is pending another court decision in a case questioning the constitutionality of a law issued in 2014, which bans third parties from challenging sales or investment contracts signed between the government and investors.
The law in question stipulates that courts must suspend viewing appeals of contracts, even if the cases were brought to court prior to the issuance of the law. The law was approved in April 2014 by former interim president Adli Mansour and was heavily criticised by the Egyptian Centre for Social and Economic Rights (ECESR) for its issuance. The ECESR said that the law 'wastes the rights of citizens and workers from detecting suspicions of corruption' in contracts.
The controversy over Beni Suef Cement is more than a decade old. The plant, which has an annual production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr, was sold in 1999 and was then owned as a joint venture project by Lafarge and Titan. In 2002, Titan acquired the shares owned by Lafarge and has since wholly-owned the plant.
In February 2014, an administrative court ruled in favour of the privatisation but ordered reinstating the workers, as stipulated in the sales contract. The court ruling was appealed by the workers, who want the privatisation to be reversed and by company officials, who do not want to bear the costs of reinstating the workers.
Egyptian cement producers cope with gas shortages
27 June 2013Egypt: Several Egyptian cement producers have reported how they are coping with gas shortages in the country. Production at South Valley Cement has stopped. The company has announced that the gas supply will resume on 28 June 2013. Alexandria Portland Cement has reported that its plant has not stopped production. Its subsidiary, Beni Suef Cement, has reported that it cannot yet assess the impact of the shortage on production.
The National Cement Company has announced that operations are ongoing on a normal basis and that there are no shortages in gas capacity. Misr Cement Qena has said that its cement plants are operating using Mazut and not natural gas. However, due to a shortage in the supply of Mazut, clinker production has been suspended more than once recently.