Displaying items by tag: Hima Cement
Bamburi Cement completes divestment of Hima Cement
13 March 2024Uganda: Kenya-based Bamburi Cement has completed its US$84m sale of its subsidiary Hima Cement to a consortium comprising Sarrai Group and Rwimi Holding. The transaction completed in early March 2024 following regulatory and shareholder approval, according to the Business Daily newspaper. Bamburi Cement’s intention to sell Hima Cement was first announced in November 2023. Holcim held a 70% share and Cementia Holding held a 30% share in Hima Cement. Both companies have sold their full stakes to the new owners.
Bamburi Cement and Cementia Holding to sell Hima Cement for US$15m
08 December 2023Uganda: Holcim subsidiaries Bamburi Cement and Cementia Holding have negotiated a price of US$120m for Hima Cement with buyer Sarrai Group. Business Daily News has reported that the price is 14% higher than the company’s previous valuation. The parties said that the agreed price takes into consideration ‘multiple factors,’ including Hima Cement’s performance in 2022 and forecast performance for 2023.
Holcim to sell Hima Cement and Mbeya Cement
15 November 2023Tanzania/Uganda: Switzerland-based Holcim has signed agreements to sell Uganda-based Hima Cement and Tanzania-based Mbeya Cement. Local industrial conglomerate Sarrai Group will acquire Hima Cement for US$120m, while local oil importer Amsons Group will acquire Mbeya Cement for an undisclosed sum.
Holcim’s Asia, Middle East & Africa regional head Martin Kriegner said “These divestments advance our strategy to consolidate our leadership in core markets as the global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions. With the Sarrai Group and Amsons Group, we are pleased to have found strategic and trusted partners who are best positioned to develop these businesses in the long term.”
Bamburi Cement’s half-year profit hit by tax claim in Uganda
04 September 2023Kenya/Uganda: Bamburi Cement’s profit after tax has been adversely affected by a tax claim in the first half of 2023. The cement producer said that its profit after tax was reduced due to the “settlement of corporation tax matters in Uganda.” Its turnover grew by 11% year-on-year to US$153m from US$138m in the same period in 2022. However, its profit after for tax fell by 7% to US$604,000 from US$652,000. As well as operating plants in Kenya, the subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim runs Hima Cement in Uganda.
Reporting by the Business Daily newspaper has revealed that the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) started a review in 2020 of Hima Cement’s transfer pricing compliance between 2014 and 2018. The URA then raised its corporation tax assessment for Hima Cement in December 2022. Bamburi Cement has also faced additional penalties and interest charges from the Kenya Revenue Authority.
Investigation after boy dies in cement quarry lagoon
25 April 2023Uganda: Hima Cement and local authorities are investigating the circumstances in which an eight-year-old boy allegedly drowned on 21 April 2023 in a quarry lagoon at a site formerly operated by Hima Cement. Poshele Bwambale Isingoma, a resident of Katoke village in Bugoye sub-county, was reportedly among other minors who had gone out to play. Isingoma had attempted to follow ducks that were swimming close to the side of the lagoon but slipped in and got into difficulty.
Hima Cement’s country CEO Jean-Michel Pons said the fatal incident occurred at a quarry previously operated by Hima Cement, saying “On behalf of Hima Cement, I convey my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family for this unfortunate tragedy.” Pons added that the company’s management was ‘co-operating fully with the authorities in their investigation to establish the cause of the incident.’
Uganda: Preliminary findings into a fire at Hima Cement’s integrated plant at Kasese that took place on 16 January 2022 have revealed lapses in health and safety rules. Three people were reported killed in the blaze and a further eight others were injured, according to the Daily Monitor newspaper. Following an inspection of the site, Flavia Bwire, the executive secretary of the National Building Review Board (NBRB), said there were inadequate entry and exit points for the staff to evacuate the building. The NBRB will make recommendations to the relevant authorities when it has concluded its investigation. Hima Cement, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim, said that staff were conducting installation work at a light diesel oil tank when the incident happened. Production at the plant is yet to restart.
Geoffrey Ndugwa appointed as head of Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe
05 January 2022Zimbabwe: Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe appointed Geoffrey Ndugwa as chief executive officer (CEO) in mid-December 2021. He succeeds Precious Murena, who stepped down in September 2021.
Ndugwa was previously the CEO for Lafarge Malawi from late 2019. He brings experience in the cement industry spanning over 17 years working in various capacities across Africa. Some of his notable appointments include being the Commercial Director for Bamburi Group in Kenya, the General Manager Innovation and Marketing for Lafarge WAPCO Nigeria, the General Manager for Bamburi Special Products in Kenya, the Head of Business Support for Barclays Bank of Uganda and the Sales Manager for Hima Cement in Uganda.
Ndugwa holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University in the UK, a post graduate diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK and a Civil Engineering degree from the University of East London.
Hima Cement launches Fundi masonry cement
26 February 2021Uganda: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Hima Cement has launched Fundi masonry cement. The company says that the product has a lower carbon footprint than Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). It is suitable for use in plastering, brick laying and mortar works.
Hima Cement Uganda chief executive officerJean-Michel Pons said, “Fundi is an application-based cement that is formulated with enhanced capabilities for masonry and plaster works. The customer is guaranteed improved workability, affordability and beautiful finishes.” He added, “In addition to addressing the application needs for masonry works, Fundi masonry cement is now the greenest cement on the Ugandan market. Fundi is produced with a reduced carbon footprint, with 54% lower CO2 emissions in comparison to OPC.”
Hima Cement sells cement via WhatsApp
02 February 2021Uganda: Hima Cement has introduced Kafluu, a chatbot-led initiative that lets customers order products via WhatsApp. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim says that customers can use the platform 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to manage their orders and transactions. The automated chatbot software guides customers through the ordering process, gathering specifics like the product type, number of bags, delivery site and payment options. Payment is available via MTN MoMo Pay or bank transfer.
“We are always looking to improve the customer experience and Kafluu is able to respond quickly and effectively, enabling customers to place orders, make payments and input their delivery information with ease,” says Israel Tinkasimiire, the Hima Cement Sales Director.
The initiative is being piloted in Mbarara first before rollout in the rest of the country.
Update on Rwanda
22 July 2020Rwanda’s newest cement grinding plant is set to start commissioning at a great time. Last week Milbridge Group subsidiary Prime Cement said that its 0.6Mt/yr grinding plant in Musanze, Northern Province was preparing to start up in August 2020. This week the main local producer, Cimerwa, announced that it was setting standardised cement prices in an attempt to control speculation in the market following a shortage. According to local press, spikes in prices have been caused by an urgent supply tender from the Ministry of Education, which has started a large-scale project to build over 20,000 classrooms. Prime Cement is unlikely to make a difference to this particular shortage but its timing is spot on.
Graph 1: Cement production capacity/population of East African countries. Source: Global Cement Magazine & Global Cement Directory 2020.
Cement price surges in land-locked African countries crying out for construction materials are not new but it’s always illuminating to review how the situation is changing. Rwanda’s sole 0.6Mt/yr integrated plant is run by Cimerwa, a subsidiary of South Africa-based PPC, near Bugarama in the south-west of the country, close to the borders with Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Burundi. The new grinding plant is located in the north-west near the borders with DRC and Uganda. It will join another grinding plant run by Kenya’s ARM Cement at Kigali.
PPC’s operation in Rwanda has performed well in comparison to a poor market back home in South Africa. For its financial half year to September 2019 Cimerwa reported revenue growth of 28% year-on-year to US$31.2m due to a 20% increase in sales volumes. Earnings rose even more in percentage terms due to higher volumes and an improved cost per tonne performance, likely due to a debottlenecking project. More recently, PPC said that its operations in Rwanda were disrupted in April 2020 due to a coronavirus lockdown that started in late March 2020. It partially resumed operations in the second half of April 2020 with cement sales volumes for the month expected to be 15 - 20% of those in April 2019. The other point of note is that the Rwandan government was trying to sell its minority share in Cimerwa in mid-2019 but nothing has been publicly announced since then. However, Cimerwa was reported as being in the process of listing on the Rwanda Stock Exchange in May 2020.
Rwanda’s other grinding plant at Kigali has had problems with its parent company in Kenya. ARM Cement went into administration in mid-2018 and its assets have gradually been sold off since then amidst legal wrangling. It has also had ongoing operational issues with interrupted production due to clinker and coal shortages caused by import issues with Tanzania. An attempt to sell the 0.1Mt/yr grinding plant in September 2018 failed when an auction didn’t even reach one tenth of the estimated market value of US$1.4m. The plant was still reportedly on sale in May 2020.
The new Prime Cement grinding plant will have a production capacity of 0.6Mt/yr. It has been supplied by Germany-based Loesche, who installed a Loesche Jumbo CCG (Compact Cement Grinding plant) with mill type LM 30.2. The project has been reported to have a cost of around US$65m. A second phase was also mentioned at the time of the initial announcement that might include upgrading the grinding plant to a fully-integrated one at a later stage. Time will tell. In the meantime though it will be interesting to see whether the new plant has the same raw material issues that ARM’s Kigali Cement has had. One potential source of clinker is the integrated Hima Cement at Kasese in Uganda. Bamburi Cement reported in May 2020 that its Hima Cement subsidiary in Uganda was unable to ‘access’ the market in Rwanda in 2019 due to ongoing trade problems across the Rwanda-Uganda border.
Rwanda’s cement consumption has been reported to be 0.7Mt/yr so a new combined national production capacity of 1.4Mt/yr seems likely to create significant exports. Other countries in the region have also noticed what’s going on in Rwanda and want to do likewise. In June 2020 DRC’s Industry Minister Julien Paluku talked up plans of reviving the 0.3Mt/yr state-owned National Cement Plant (CINAT) in Kimpese. He noted that DRC has been partly reliant on cement produced by Cimerwa in Rwanda, which has been serving a combined demand of 900,000t/yr in DRC and Burundi.
A statistic that received a fresh airing this week was one from the World Bank in 2016 that worked out that the price of cement in Africa was on average 183% higher than the global average. It popped up in a news article about the expanding Nigerian cement industry but it applies to the whole continent. While it continues to hold true, exports will boom and plants will keep being built in the places that exports can’t reach.