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Qalaa Holdings’ revenue up by 42.5% 15 June 2015
Algeria: Qalaa Holdings, an investment company in the Middle East and Africa, has reported that its revenue in the first quarter of 2015 grew by 42.5% year-on-year to US$256m. Growth was driven mainly by operational improvements at ASEC Cement's Sudan subsidiary Al-Takamol, which recorded 157% year-on-year revenue growth. The energy and cement segments contributed 71% to its consolidated revenues.
Qalaa Holdings reported that its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at US$36.2m, an eight-fold increase on the same period of 2014. It had a net loss after tax and minority of US$14.7m in the first quarter of 2015, a 51.6% year-on-year improvement. Foreign exchange charges rose to US$6.95m, compared to a gain of US$1.71m in the first quarter of 2014. Qalaa Holdings' cement and construction unit ASEC Holding recorded US$10.2m in foreign exchange losses due to its stake in dollar-denominated ASEC Holding Convertible.
Qalaa Holdings' plans for the future include several cement divestments. Negotiations are progressing for the sale of ASEC Cement's operations in Algeria, with an Algerian Holding Company in the cement industry being the natural buyer for Zahana Cement as it already owns 65% of the company. The greenfield plant in Djelfa, Algeria is being bid for by two Algeria-based industrial groups.
Nigeria: Lafarge's Ashaka Cement has reported that its first quarter 2015 profit fell despite reduced production costs. The fall was attributed to lengthy rainy rains and insurgency in the north of country that disrupted operations.
Ashaka Cement's operations have been disrupted by Boko Haram as the company is located in Gombe State, an insurgent hot-spot. Boko Haram has waged a six-year campaign to impose Islamic law, or Shariah, in Africa's largest economy and biggest oil-producer.
For the first three months that ended on 31 March 2015, Ashaka's net income fell by 53.5% year-on-year to US$4.47m and its sales dropped by 29.8% to US$22.9m. Gross profit was down by 48.9%, while gross profit margin fell to 35.7% in 2015 compared with 48.7% in the same period of 2014. Net margin, a measure of profitability and efficiency, fell to 19.5% compared to 29.5% in the first quarter of 2014.
While Ashaka Cement's profits flounder due to political risk, it was also able to reduce its costs. Cost of sales fell by 11.7% year-on-year to US$14.7m in the first quarter of 2015 as the company increased its use of local coal in place of expensive low pour fuel oil (LPFO).
Ashaka Cement is currently expanding its cement production capacity from 1Mt/yr to 4Mt/yr. The expansion will comprise debottlenecking of the existing line for additional 500,000t/yr and the installation of a new 2.5Mt/yr line, according to Suleiman Yahyah, chairman of the board of directors of the company. "As part of the expansion project, a captive coal-fired 64MW capacity power plant will be built in order to allow a reliable and sufficient source of power for the existing plant and the new cement line," said Yahyah.
India: N Srinivasan has resigned from the board of financial services company India Cements Capital (ICCL), part of India Cements.
"N Srinivasan and T S Raghupathy have resigned as directors of the company with effect from 30 March 2015," said ICCL in a statement. ICCL provides various financial services like money changing services and advisory services on the foreign exchange market to exporters and importers.
Israel/Palestine: Norwegian insurance giant KLP Kapitalforvaltning has divested two international building material companies, HeidelbergCement and Cemex, from its investment portfolio because of their operations in the West Bank.
According to news agency Haaretz, KLP divested its shares effectively on 1 June 2015, citing international law as set in the Hague and Geneva conventions. Haaretz added that the move is part of KLP's half-yearly review of companies in its portfolio. HeidelbergCement and Cemex acquired companies with Israeli subsidiaries operating quarries in Area C, West Bank, which is under complete Israeli civilian and military control as defined by the Oslo accords. KLP also excluded five more companies because of their income from coal-based operations, one for corruption, one for severe environmental damage and one for the production of tobacco.
"The extraction of non-renewable resources in occupied territory may weaken the future income potential of the local population, including the Palestinian residents. Moreover, when this is undertaken in a way that is difficult to justify within the requirements of the law of belligerent occupation, KLP considers that this activity represents an unacceptable risk of violating fundamental ethical norms," said KLP in a statement.
India: As part of the implementation in India of its planned merger with Holcim, and subject to the completion of the same merger, Lafarge has signed an agreement to acquire the 14% stake held by Baring in Lafarge India for Euro270m. Following this transaction, subject to the approval of the regulatory authorities, Lafarge will hold 100% of the shares of Lafarge India.