Why Lafarge Africa made 29.7% profit growth despite pandemic – Lafarge Africa Plc has said that its second quarter, 2020 (Q2’20) financial result where it posted a 29.7 percent growth in Profit Before Tax (PBT), was buoyed by improved operating efficiency and implementation of the company’s Health, Cash and Cost initiative.
Mr.Khaled El Dokani, Country Chief Executive Officer, Lafarge Africa, disclosed this at the company’s virtual Facts Behind Figure presentation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The company had in Q’2020, posted N21.17 billion Earning BeforeIncome Tax (EBIT) compared to N16.33 billion in the same period in 2019, indicating a 29.7 percent increase.
The company also recorded strong improvement in net profit with the figure rising to N15.26 billion from N9.54 billion in the previous period in 2019, indicating a 60 percent increase, though its net sales declined by 5.1 percent to N56.85 billion from N59.87 billion in Q2’19.
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Speaking at the event, El Dokani said: ‘The proactive measures we have put in place as a business have been instrumental to the positive results we have seen. Our route-to-market strategy has proven to be effective, particularly, our expanded distribution network which proved very valuable during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic lock-down. “We have steadily expanded our retail footprint in our core markets. The recent re-launch of our Supaset brand has continued to gain traction with our customers, especially with the block makers.
“The implementation of our Health, Cash and Cost initiative has and would remain in focus to deliver improvement in our performance.”
He assured that with the gradual easing of the lockdown by the Federal Government, the company would continue to focus on the business resilience to maintain a healthy balance sheet, while prioritising the health of ‘our people, communities and other stakeholders.’