Displaying items by tag: Nigeria

Nigeria: The House of Assembly of the Nigerian parliament has ordered Dangote Cement to suspend its operations at the Obajana cement plant until the company presents 'credible evidence' of its acquisition of the plant from the government. The Premium Times newspaper has reported that the state and Dangote Cement concluded a deal for transfer of ownership of the plant in 2002. Kogi State Commissioner Kingsley Fanwo says that Dangote Cement has failed to show evidence of its payment for the asset.

Local people petitioned the state for an enquiry into the plant's legal status after it allegedly created industrial pollution 'bordering on' a hazard. Protestors have reportedly 'driven out' staff from the plant.

Nigeria: Aliko Dangote, owner of Dangote Cement and Africa’s richest person, has been appointed by Nigeria’s government to lead a committee tasked to eliminate malaria. The committee will also include Folorunsho Alakija, another Nigerian billionaire, as well as other successful local business owners. Dangote was chosen to lead the committee, which will be comprised of 16 members, due to his previous financial support of various public health measures, including polio vaccination programmes.

The anti-malaria team was brought together to battle the growing cases in Nigeria, which has the highest prevalence of infection worldwide. According to Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, eliminating malaria could save the country US$1.6bn/yr at present and up to US$4.8bn/yr by 2030.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement increased its sales by 17% year-on-year to US$1.9bn in the first half of 2022 from US$1.63bn in the first half of 2021. The group increased its cement sales volumes by 26% to 15.Mt, including a 33% increase in Nigeria to 9.9Mt there. Its production costs rose by 17% to US$760m from US$651m. This resulted in a 10% profit drop to US$406m from US$452m.

Chief executive officer Michel Puchercos noted a ‘very volatile’ global environment and increased energy costs. He said “Our business model remains robust, thanks to the prudent and flexible approach we have taken across our operations. Our continuous focus on efficiency, meeting market demand and maintaining our costs leadership drives our ability to consistently deliver superior profitability and value to all shareholders.”

Nigeria: BUA Cement recorded US$444m in sales revenues in the first half of 2022, up by 52% year-on-year from first-half 2021 levels. The producer’s profit after tax was US$145m, up by 41% year-on-year.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement says that it raised the thermal substitution rate of alternative fuels (AF) in its group cement production by 25% year-on-year in the first half of 2022. It co-processed 67,200t of locally-sourced waste in its operations during the half.

Chief executive officer Michel Puchercos said “Although significant increases in energy and AGO costs are impacting production, we are strengthening our efforts to ramp up the usage of AF. Our on-going Alternative Fuel Project aims to leverage waste management solutions, reduce CO₂ emissions and source material locally.”

Nigeria: Guillaume Moyen has resigned as the chief financial officer (CFO) of Dangote Cement. He cited personal reasons for his departure from the post. Moyen will be succeeded by Gbenga Fapohunda as the acting CFO.

Fapohunda holds over 20 years of experience in corporate finance. He joined Dangote Cement as the Regional CFO in Nigeria in early 2021. Prior to this he held regional CFO roles for Japan Tobacco International and British American Tobacco. Earlier in his career, he was a manager within the financial advisory team at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and also worked as a consultant at KPMG Professional Services.

He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance from the London Business School and a Doctor of Philosophy (Marketing) from Delta State University in the US. Gbenga holds membership of a number of professional accountancy and finance bodies in Nigeria.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has launched a promotional prize campaign worth a total US$76,700. The campaign consists of rewards of up to US$11,870, alongside other prizes for customers. The Sun newspaper has reported that the promotion will run until 31 October 2021.

Dangote Cement's Nigeria sales director Sanni Funmi said that the campaign is the producer's way of saying 'Thank You' to Nigerians.

Egypt: Lafarge Egypt has appointed Jimmy Khan as its chief executive officer (CEO).

Khan has worked for Holcim, LafargeHolcim and Lafarge for 18 years. Notable positions include becoming Head of Business Processes, Internal Control and Audit - Nigeria in 2013, CEO of LafargeHolcim Mauritius and Seychelles in 2015 and Country CEO of Zambia in 2018. He is a graduate of the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech in the US.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement sales volumes in the first quarter of 2022 have been hampered by disruptions to gas supplies domestically and by high freight rates restricting its exports of cement and clinker to Cameroon, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Its sales volumes of cement fell by 3.6% year-on-year to 7.25Mt in the first quarter of 2022 from 7.52Mt in the same period in 2021. Its revenue grew by 24% to US$994m from US$801m. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 18.6% to US$508m from US$428m.

Michael Pucheros, the chief executive officer of Dangote Cement, said “Our group volumes were down 3.6% mainly due to energy supply challenges in Nigeria. Our operations relying on cement and clinker imports – namely Ghana, Sierra-Leone, Cameroon - were impacted by the global supply chain challenges.” Additionally, its operations outside of Nigeria was also negatively affected by a cement plant in Congo being shut for over two months due to maintenance and repairs and extended power plant maintenance in Senegal.

Nigeria: Joseph Oyeyani Makoju, former managing director of Dangote Cement and advisor to Aliko Dangote, died in hospital in Abuja on 11 April 2022 whilst suffering from a heart condition. He was 73 years old, according to the Daily Independent newspaper. Makoju, an engineer by training, also served as a Special Advisor for Electrical Power under the former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.

Following a career in the Nigerian power sector, Makoju worked internationally for Shell-BP, Blue Circle Cement in the UK and for West Africa Portland Cement Company (WAPCO), part of Lafarge. He joined Dangote Cement in 2009 as Special Advisor to Aliko Dangote and was subsequently promoted to chief executive officer / Group Managing Director in April 2018. He retired from the company in January 2020.