Displaying items by tag: South Africa

South Africa: Sephaku Holdings, the listed company with a 36% shareholding in Sephaku Cement, has nearly doubled its headline loss to US$1.11m in the six months to 31 December 2012 compared to US$0.63m in the same period of 2011. However, the company is in a strong cash position according to CEO Lelau Mohuba.

Sephaku Cement plans to commission a clinker plant towards the end of the 2013, which will produce 2.5Mt/yr of cement. It is 64%-owned by Nigeria's Dangote Cement. Mohuba said the commissioning was on schedule and that Sephaku would become a major player in the South African cement market, which currently produces 14Mt/yr.

Meanwhile shareholders have approved the acquisition of Metier Mixed Concrete on 11 January 2013. The company concluded a 10 year funding agreement deal valued at US$220m with Standard Bank and Nedbank in October 2012. Sephaku's directors said this agreement would close the gap in terms of the capital they would require for Sephaku Cement to be fully prepared for market entry and for it to become a significant competitor in the wholesale and retail cement trade.

Dangote has, according to reports, invested more than US$124m in the cement venture at Aganang, near Lichtenburg in North West Province, making it the largest foreign direct investment in South Africa by a company from elsewhere in Africa.

South Africa: PPC (Pretoria Portland Cement), South Africa's largest cement maker, may increase production in the country by as much as 4% in 2013, according to its new chief executive Ketso Gordhan.

"South Africa is in a very tough environment at the moment," said Gordhan, who added that an oversupply of cement, partly caused by new entrants, would have an impact on the market in the first quarter of 2014. South African cement sales fell by 3.8% in the third quarter of 2012 as widespread strike action and slower economic growth sapped demand. However, PPC's sales rose by 8% in the three months to 30 September 2012.

Competitor Sephaku Holdings is expected to begin construction of a new production plant in 2013. Macquarie First South Securities analyst Peter Steyn said that PPC was, "unlikely to be unscathed" by the new arrival.

Rwanda/South Africa: The major South African cement producer PPC (Pretoria Portland Cement) has purchased a 51% stake in the Rwandan firm Cimerwa for US$69.4m in cash. The deal is in line with PPC's vision of making 50% of its revenue outside South Africa itself in the coming years. The deal comes after a similar deal between PPC and Ethiopia's Habesha Cement, of which it has bought a 27% stake.

"This transaction is a further step in our commitment to invest in sub-Saharan Africa and we are very confident about Rwanda," said PPC's CEO Paul Stuiver. "The Cimerwa plant is located in a challenging but very strategic region in East Africa, which currently lacks significant cement production capacity."

Cimerwa, in south-west Rwanda, has been the only cement producer in the country for 28 years. It has the capacity to make 0.1Mt/yr of cement but is currently undergoing a 0.6Mt/yr expansion project that is due to be commissioned in 2014.

Cement demand in Rwanda is estimated at 0.35Mt/yr but, based on the region's positive economic outlook, regional cement demand is projected to increase to 1Mt/yr in the next decade. "Combined with our recent investment in Ethiopia, the Cimerwa transaction will increase PPC's revenue outside of South Africa to more than 30% by 2015-16," added Stuiver.

"Rwanda looks like an attractive market to build capacity, with robust gross domestic product growth expectations, a large supply deficit in the cement market and challenging logistics for importing cement," said Ross Heyns, an equity analyst at Kagiso Asset Management. However, Heyns said that it appeared that PPC had paid a fairly hefty price for the asset. "After raising the additional US$104m of debt and expanding the plant's capacity to 0.7Mt/yr, the US$69.4m that they are paying for 51% of Cimerwa implies a total valuation for the business (including debt) of US$400/t of cement capacity," he said.

PPC's desire to expand to more locations outside of South Africa is in part due to the current overcapacity in that market. The country has a capacity of 16Mt/yr but is only likely to produce 11Mt in 2012. This overcapacity will not be helped when the 2.6Mt/yr Sephaku Cement plant, backed by Nigeria's Dangote Group, comes online in 2013.

The outgoing chief executive of PPC (Portland Pretoria Cement) officer, Paul Stuiver, summed up the dilemma facing cement producers on the east coast of Africa. Building near the coast leaves you vulnerable to imports.

In a recent interview with the South African business weekly, 'Financial Mail', Stuiver said that imports are not a threat to African expansion, provided that a facility is not built within 200km of a port. Exactly the same issue was raised by Yves De Moor in his column in the November 2012 issue of Global Cement Magazine.

Countries along Africa's east coast receive imports, but Stuiver said that Africa's high logistics costs mean the prices increase steeply as the cement is transported inland. He commented that the markets in Mozambique and KwaZulu Natal in South Africa were especially vulnerable and that most imports to South Africa come through Durban. Unsurprisingly both of PPC's big recent investments have been in landlocked countries, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia respectively. In July 2012 it also tried to invest in CINAT, the Democratic Republic of Congo's state-owned cement producer.

The import issue to South Africa reignited last week when the South African National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) confirmed that it had confiscated 'sub-standard' cement imported from Vietnam. As we covered in August 2012 in this column this follows a row in July 2012 about whether cement from Pakistan's Lucky Cement was complying with South African standards.

Although standards still lead the argument, more honesty has emerged with the use of the word 'dumping' in the complaints. Stuiver explained that "...the price of cement from Pakistan, India and Vietnam is low because electricity, fuel and transport rates are subsidised." Whilst PPC can report that its revenue has risen by 9% to US$837m for the first nine months of 2012, complaints against foreign imports seem overly protective. In 2009 PPC confirmed the existence of a cartel in the country. PPC has even gone to the Advertising Standards Authority to stop imports with elephants on their bags!

With reports that Nigerian producer Dangote is building a new US$389m plant in South Africa, thoughts turn to what will happen once South Africa becomes 'self-sufficient' in cement, like Nigeria which has proudly announced this recently. Giant infrastructure projects are one way to use all that excess cement and this is what Lafarge WAPCO has been asking the Nigerian government to do recently, in a road building drive. Better transport links in South Africa would wreck Stuiver's maxim about not building near a port.

Two solutions from this week's news might appeal to the industry on the south and east coasts of Africa. The first is to use inventive export barriers just like the Bureau of Indian Standards have imposed to slow down exports from Pakistan. The second is to persuade importers to do what a North Korean ship reportedly did with its consignment of cement this week off the coast of Somalia: dump it in the sea.

South Africa: The South African National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) has confiscated 'sub-standard' cement imported from Vietnam and is investigating complaints lodged about the quality of two other imported brands.

Daniel Ramarumo, a NRCS spokesman, confirmed that it had received complaints from NPC-Cimpor about Vietnamese cement, which was 'later confiscated by the regulator' in August 2012. The NRCS received a second complaint in September 2012 about Lucky Cement and had instituted an investigation. A third complaint from NPC-Cimpor was lodged on 5 November 2012 about Lucky Cement and Falcon Cement. He said that these complaints were currently under investigation.

PPC (Portland Pretoria Cement) chief executive Paul Stuiver commented that his company had tried to engage with the NRCS about allegedly inferior quality and underweight imports but was 'getting nowhere' because the NRCS had indicated it had tested the cement and it had complied with the standard. Stuiver now plans to raise the issue with the Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel.

Stuiver also added that one of the imported cement brands had an elephant on its bags, which resulted in PPC taking them to the Advertising Standards Authority and 'getting them stopped', as PPC also has an elephant on its bags.

South Africa: PPC (Pretoria Portland Cement) has reported that its revenue increased by 9% to US$837m for its financial year ending on 30 September 2012 compared to US$777m in 2011.

The leading South African cement producer reported that its gross profit rose by 9% to US$289m in 2012 compared to US$265m. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 8% to US$265m from US$249m. However, net profit decreased by 2% to US$96.1m from US$98.5m. The group attributed this to an increase in taxes in the year.

"Despite another year in a tough economic environment, characterised by overcapacity in the industry, competitive cement pricing, rising energy costs and strike action in adjacent industries, Team PPC delivered good results by improving efficiencies and increasing normalised earnings by 11%," said outgoing PPC chief executive officer Paul Stuiver.

PPC's overall cement sales volumes fell by 3% following lower sales in Botswana and reduced exports, which were partly offset by growing demand in Gauteng, Port Elizabeth and Zimbabwe. PPC's South African cement sales volumes declined by 1%, mainly due to a subdued final quarter of the 2012 financial year. In its financial report PPC warned against cement imports, which it estimated represent 6% of South Africa's national demand.

In its outlook PPC predicted that labour unrest in the mining industry and a transport strike will reduce growth for the remainder of 2012. For 2013 the company is hoping for South African infrastructure programmes to push demand. Markets in Zimbabwe and Botswana should continue growing.

South Africa: Sephaku Cement, a subsidiary of Nigeria's Dangote Cement, has secured US$223m of domestic debt funding for a US$389m cement plant and grinding facility project in Mpumalanga and North West provinces.

Two of the country's big four banks, Standard Bank and Nedbank, advised by Sasfin Capital, have jointly funded the 10-year deal. Sephaku said this was a 'strong' vote of confidence in South Africa's market and that the agreement would enable it to become a significant competitor in the wholesale and retail cement trade in the region.

Sephaku Cement, established in 2006, is an associate of JSE-listed Sephaku Holdings, a 64%-owned subsidiary of Nigerian-based Dangote Cement. Dangote had invested more than US$126m in the venture, the largest ever foreign direct investment in South Africa by an African company. The new project includes a production facility, which would produce about 1.2Mt/yr, at Aganang near Lichtenburg in North West.

South Africa: Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC), the biggest producer of cement products in South Africa, has appointed Ketso Gordhan as CEO from 1 January 2013. Gordhan will succeed current CEO Paul Stuiver, who will have completed his contract.

Gordhan will join the group's board as CEO-designate from 1 November 2012. His most recent role has been in the South African Presidency, where from 2009 he developed performance metrics and targets for government ministries. Before working for the Presidency, Gordhan was head of private equity at FirstRand Financial Services Group for almost a decade. He was also city manager of Johannesburg between 1999 and 2000.

Previously Gordhan was the campaigns manager for the African National Congress and policy co-ordinator between 1990 and 1994. He was also director-general of the Department of Transport between 1994 and 1999 and was involved in privatising Airports Company SA and setting up the first privately funded toll road to Maputo. The South African National Roads Agency was also created during this period.

"Ketso brings a wealth and blend of experience in business and in government, as well as knowledge of various industries," said PPC group chairman Bheki Sibiya.

South Africa: Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) has been granted environmental authorisation by the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning for the second phase of its Western Cape modernisation project. This includes replacing two ageing cement kilns at its Riebeeck plant with a new five stage preheater kiln. However, interested and affected parties could still appeal the decision.

PPC has completed the first phase of its modernisation strategy, a US$33m upgrade of a cement kiln at the De Hoek plant near Piketberg, resulting in improved environmental performance and thermal efficiency. PPC embarked on its modernisation strategy to ensure that it will have competitive, energy-efficient plants that comply with future changes to South African environmental legislation. It estimates that the complete modernisation strategy will be sufficient to meet Western Cape cement demand until 2022.

Pakistan's Lucky Cement received the 'all clear' for its cement imports from the South African regulators last week. The situation exposes the increasingly competitive market in the country after the South African Competition Commission cartel investigations in 2011.

Sales of Lucky Cement were originally shut down in 2011 due to accusations made by its competitors, including Pretoria Portland Cement (PPP) and Natal Portland Cement (NPC). They complained that Lucky was not complying with South African standards. South Africa's National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) then ran its independent investigation and released its results last week.

The regulator's full 28-day test found no evidence that Lucky Cement imports were non-compliant with regards to their quality. A minor infringement concerning underweight bags was found and fixed. However, about a week beforehand, Lafarge South Africa's CEO said that his company was considering approaching another trade body with concerns about 'low-quality cheap cement' imported from Pakistan.

More serious criticism came from the Cement and Concrete Institute when the NRCS admitted that it didn't know how much cement had been imported into South Africa so far in 2012. The NRCS is supposed to inspect and approve the testing bodies each producer and importer uses for every 500t of cement.

Lucky Cement has been a regular importer of cement to South Africa since 2009. It exports around 1.65Mt/yr to over 22 countries in South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. CCI figures reckon that 140,000t of cement was imported to South Africa in the first quarter of 2012, mostly by Lucky Cement. According to the Global Cement Directory 2012 South Africa's capacity is around 11Mt/yr.

Four domestic producers – Lafarge, PPC, AfriSam and NPC – were accused of cartel activity by the South African Competition Commission, in a case that has been running since 2008. PPC confirmed the existence of the cartel, whilst Lafarge and AfriSam were fined US$19.6m and US$16m respectively.

By letting Lucky Cement resume the sale of its cement in South Africa, the NRCS has arguably done more than the Competition Commission to prevent cartel activity. With reports surfacing that other producers in Pakistan and India are considering exports to South Africa, domestic producers are going to have to become more inventive and more competitive.