Displaying items by tag: EAPCC

Kenya: The East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has received backing from the Ministry of Trade to sell unused land to pay off debts and commitments of nearly US$150m. The ministry said that a cabinet memorandum is ready to grant the company approval to sell off its assets, according to the Business Daily newspaper. The cement producer says it needs the funds to pay employee benefits, pay suppliers, pay off debts to companies including the Kenya Commercial Bank and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency and refurbish its plant. The cement producer says it wants to spend US$19.5m towards refurbishing its plant in a one-to-two month shutdown. At present the unit is operating at a 50% capacity utilisation rate.

Kenya: Edward Ouko, the Auditor-General, has described the East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) as insolvent because it cannot pay its debts. The cement producer made an operating loss of US$34m in its financial year that ended on 30 June 2018, according to the Standard newspaper. Its revenue fell by 25% year-on-year to US$50m. The company said it devised a new strategy to focus distribution on it own depots and to compete on pricing to counteract a lack of distribution of its products in common retail stores.

Kenya: East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) properties are set to be auctioned to recover US$13.9m owed to workers following the firm’s failure to fully implement a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

The Kenya Chemical and Allied Workers Union (KCAWU) has already obtained the services of an auctioneer, who will start auctioning EAPCC property upon expiry of the notice. The auctioneer will be seeking to recover the money for more than 400 workers covered in the 2013–2015 CBA.

The said CBA was the subject of a dispute before the Labour Court and the Court of Appeal. EAPCC was aggrieved that the court had directed it to increase wages for contract employees.

Court of Appeal judges GBM Kariuki, Fatuma Sichale and Sankale ole Kantai, held that upon the contract staff who were not part of management becoming members of KCAWU on payment of union dues, they were entitled to benefit from the negotiated CBA.

Kenya: East Africa Portland Cement has gained re-certification for ISO 14001 on environmental management system, and OHSAS 18001 for occupational health and safety. Company official Simon Peter ole Nkeri said that the achievement was part of the company’s around strategy, according to the Business Daily newspaper. He added that the adoption of an environmental quality management system was a strategic decision to improve the company’s performance.

Kenya: The East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) is waiting for cabinet approval to sell US$98.8m worth of land as part of efforts to return to profitability.

The Nairobi bourse listed firm, through the Ministry of Trade, has prepared a brief for Cabinet approval to sell part of 13,000 acres of land it owns in Athi River.

Proceeds from the sale will be used to retire a US$37.5m debt and partly fund a revamp of its ageing plant, which requires nearly US$400m of investment to be brought to a level where the EAPCC can compete well with nimble rivals like Savanna Cement.

Kenya: According to Business Daily, East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has renewed its efforts to recruit a new COO after the candidates who applied to fill the new position in August 2014 'fell short' of the required qualifications. EAPCC has now re-advertised the position, which is expected to strengthen its governance structure.

The Athi River-based manufacturer first sought to recruit a COO and CFO in 2014 through consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers. Kephar Tande, the company's managing director, said that the board deemed the applicants to be unqualified. "The first attempt in 2014 did not yield a suitable candidate from the shortlisted four, hence this new advertisement," said Tande. "This position is primarily required to improve the efficiency of our supply chain to make the company more competitive. We expect the position to be filled by August 2015."

EAPCC's current management executive structure is made up of heads of sections and divisions like financial management, research and development, internal audit and risk management, as well as strategy performance improvement. The new COO will be responsible for cement production operations, production engineering, product research and development, as well as sales and marketing.

EAPPC has not said whether it will re-advertise the CFO job, also a new position. The CFO is expected to streamline financial management at the company, which has recently faced accusations of having reported inaccurate accounts. "The position of CFO will be filled as soon as internal procedures are completed," said Tande.

Kenya: East African Portland Cement (EAPCC) has been named as one of the companies that received bribes in a tyre scandal. The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) said that it was willing to work with the government to establish the truth behind the allegations that EAPCC obtained bribes before awarding tyre contracts.

"The Authority is in the process of requesting further information from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to help in the investigations, after which appropriate determinations will be made," said the CMA. EAPCC bosses who headed the organisation in 2007 - 2011 will explain how the alleged bribery happened.

The scandal came to light recently after Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company, which owned Treadsetters Tyres Ltd in Kenya, was ordered by the SEC to pay US$10.7m to the US Treasury after it was found liable for bribing public officials and private company bosses. According to documents from the SEC, the bribes paid by Goodyear amounted to more than US$1.5m in Kenya, while another US$1.6m was paid in exchange for contracts in Angola.

The report implicated unnamed employees from EAPCC, Telkom Kenya, Armed Forces Canteen Organisation, Kenya Ports Authority, Nzoia Sugar Company, the Kenya Air Force, Ministry of Roads and Ministry of State for Defence.

Kenya: The East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has begun the process of upgrading its Athi River cement plant, a project that is expected to cost approximately US$11.1m. The upgrade will halt the plant's normal operations for six weeks.

According to EAPCC head of production, Joseph Kombo, the upgrade targets the kiln and the packing plant. "In the packing plant, we are upgrading the mechanical and electrical components of the packers as well as improving the bag conveying system, all geared towards improved the loading process and quick turnaround thus ensuring customer satisfaction," said Kombo. "We are installing a bag house to replace the electronic precipitators, retrofitting the raw-mill gear box, replacing three sections of the cement kiln shell and installing a radio link into the raw material handling sections, among others."

EAPCC plans to improve reliability, increase production and improve energy-efficiency. The bag house will reduce emissions from the plant to insignificant levels, complying with international emission standards.

Kenya: EAPCC has posted a net loss of US$4.32m for the year that ended on 30 June 2014. The company said that it had been hurt by price competition, high staff costs and the weakening Kenyan shilling. In the year that ended 30 June 2013, EAPCC posted a net profit of US$18.9m.

EAPCC said that it hopes to capitalise on the growing construction industry and plans to spend US$27.9m in the coming year on new investments. "The company has not been left behind and is aggressively investing in new machinery and equipment to increase efficiency and capacity," said EAPCC. However, it added that, "The market will continue to be highly competitive and is likely to see declining prices for the foreseeable future."

Kenya: East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) is set to construct a US$9.13m power plant that is expected to reduce its annual power bill by about US$5.70m. The 4MW power plant will run on waste gases generated by the company's Athi River cement plant via waste heat recovery (WHR) system. Construction is scheduled to start in September 2014 and is expected to take one year.

"The new power plant will have a huge impact on our operational costs because its output will translate to about 40% of our current total energy requirements," said EAPCC's managing director Kephar Tande.

Around 20 - 25% of the project costs will be funded from internal savings with the rest of the funds coming from commercial loans. EAPCC also hopes to permanently address the problem of frequent power outages, which have posed major problems at its clinker plant. EAPCC currently consumes about 13MW of power supplied from the national grid to run its main installations, including a 1700t/day capacity kiln.

Tande said that the new power plant would help to stabilise the company's operations as it eyes expansion of its overall cement production capacity to 2Mt/yr by 2017 from the present 1.3Mt/yr. EAPCC plans to begin procurement for a new clinker plant near Bisil, Kajiado Country, Kenya in September 2014 at an estimated cost of US$171m. "We hope to conclude the feasibility study on the new clinker plant in Bisil by end of July 2014 and move to the next stage," said Tande.

Also on the cards is the construction of a second cement plant in the Nooleleshuani area of Kajiado County by 2016. The proposed plant site is next to the limestone-rich Maasai Plains, which are the major source of raw material for the five cement companies based in Athi River.

Kenya's power shortage has held back industrial expansion for decades despite the availability of huge energy reserves such as wind, coal and geothermal. The energy sector, though critical in uplifting the country's development, has registered slow growth due to the high initial capital requirements and inability to mobilise adequate financial resources to undertake large-scale investment.