Displaying items by tag: East African Portland Cement Company

Kenya: East African Portland Cement (EAPC) is relying on a US$100m land sale to the government to remain solvent. The company is in discussions to sell over 14,000 acres of land to the newly established Special Economy Zones Authority funds, according to the East African newspaper. The cement producer has seen its production halted, cement stocks depleted and staff salaries delayed over the last two months. It reported a loss of US$9.58m in the second half of 2017 from a loss of US$2.45m in the same period in 2016.

Kenya: East African Portland Cement plans to build a railway terminal at Athi River near its integrated cement plant. The depot will be used to help deliver raw materials by train on the Standard Gauge Railway to the plant, according to the Business Daily newspaper. Managing director Simon Peter ole Nkeri said that his company relies ‘heavily’ on imported clinker. The cement producer is holding discussions with the government about the project.

Kenya: East African Portland Cement’s loss grew to US$9.58m in the second half of 2017 from US$2.45m in the same period in 2016. Its sales revenue fell by 17% year-on-year to US$30.2m from US$36.6m, according to the Standard newspaper. It has blamed the falling sales on ‘prolonged’ political unrest connected to the two elections the country held in 2017.

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: Janerose Karanja has been appointed as the head of human resources at East African Portland Cement Company. Previously, Karanja worked for the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives for over 25 years, according to the Kenyan Star newspaper. He holds an MBA in Human Resource Management from Kenyatta University, a human resource professional certificate from the Institute of Human Resource Management and a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Nairobi.

Kenya: East African Portland Cement’s sales revenue fell by 19% year-on-year to US$35.9m in 2016 from US$44.6m in 2015. It made a loss of US$5.15m compared to a loss of US$7.19m in 2015, according to Reuters. It said that sales volumes had fallen by 17% in 2016 due to a ‘change in the competitive landscape’ and that this had caused the fall in revenue. However, it added that it had cut its administrative expenses by 9% due to on-going cost management initiatives. Looking forward the company said that, as it expected cement supply to be higher than demand in the near term, it would focus on cutting costs.

Kenya: The annual general meeting of the East African Portland Cement company has been cancelled following the non-attendance of the company’s auditors. The meeting requires the presence of the office of the Auditor-General or its appointee Deloitte East Africa to proceed, according to the Business Daily newspaper. The management was unaware that the procedure had changed a company director said. The meeting has been rescheduled for 3 February 2017. The cement producer has a poor corporate governance record following the accusation of its chief executive of sexual harassment and reports of theft of stock in late November 2016, among other incidents.

Kenya: Simon Peter Ole Nkeri, the chief executive officer of East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC), has been accused of sexual harassment in a legal case by a manager at the company. Lucy Rimanto Molonket, the head of Sales and Marketing, alleges that Nkeri harassed her on 31 August 2016, according to the Business Daily newspaper. She then alleges that he texted her to apologise for his behaviour. Subsequently she says that she was transferred to a low profile job in September 2016. EAPCC chairman Bill Lay has defended Nkeri, saying that the company has transferred 11 of its managers to different positions following financial problems.

Kenya: East African Portland Cement (EAPC) plans to lay-off over 1000 workers as part of plans to improve its efficiency. The company’s board has described the organisation as ‘severely over staffed’ and unable to compete with its rivals, according to Citizen Digital. At present it has around 2000 personnel and studies suggest that it only needs 500 of these workers to remain competitive.

Chairman Bill Lay said that high staff costs have contributed to the government-owned company’s financial problems. The management team is developing a voluntary early retirement program that will reduce staff levels. The company intends to spend US$19.6m towards the downsizing programme.

Kenya: East African Portland Cement (EAPC) has hired Ernst & Young to conduct a forensic audit of its business following reports that the company is technically bankrupt and may have lost around US$7.1m worth of stock from its warehouses since 2014. Cement stock valued at US$4m went missing in Kenya and US$3.1m disappeared in Uganda, according to the Business Daily newspaper. Ernst & Young started work for the state-owned cement producer in early November 2016.