Our Outlook Remains Positive Despite COVID-19 – Lafarge Africa

Lafarge Africa Plc has stated that its medium to long-term outlook remains positive despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses. The company has further reiterated its commitment to maintaining a healthy balance sheet while prioritising the health and wellbeing of its employees and host communities.

Commenting on the recently released Q2 results of the company, the Country CEO, Khaled El-Dokani, said, “Q2 results remained resilient with net sales of -5.1% and recurring EBIT +29.7%, compared to prior-year period, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation of our ‘HEALTH, COST and CASH (HCC)’ initiatives have delivered considerable improvement in our performance.”

The company’s unaudited results revealed that it generated N120.54 billion in revenue in Q2 2020, a 2.3%  increase (from N117.885 billion) from the corresponding period last year.

The cost-cutting strategy of the business also yielded results as the sales and marketing expenses were reduced by 9.9% from N1.720 billion to N1.550 billion, while administrative expenses accounted for only N7.830 billion, declining by over 30% compared with N11.289 billion spent in 2019.

With a whopping 67.3% dip in Net financing cost, Lafarge Africa Plc saw an 86.1% increase in its half-year profit before tax to N28.757 billion, while Profit after tax grew faster by 89.2% from N9.0 billion to N23.329 billion.

With the divestment of its South Africa subsidiary, effective cost-cutting strategy and revitalised business strategy, the company’s return to profitability remains sustainable and its business expansion outlook looks positive.