Lafarge Africa Plc (NGX: WAPCO) posted an impressive 92.18% Year-on-year growth in profit after tax for the first quarter period ending 31st March 2022. It’s Profit After Tax (PAT) went from N9.13 billion in Q1 2021 to N17.55 billion in Q1 2022.
Commenting on the result published on Thursday, 21st April 2022, Khaled El Dokani, CEO of Lafarge Africa said;
“Our Q1 2022 performance shows significant improvement over Q1 2021, with net sales of +26.8%, recurring EBIT of +50.4% and net income of +92.2%.
Coming after our very strong FY 2021 results, our Q1 2022 performance confirms the continued growth trajectory of our business. We are equally pleased with the progress we are making on sustainability; our use of affordable clean energy and agro-ecology footprint are in accordance with our net zero pledge journey”.
The company says that it expects the good demand momentum to continue in Q2 2022.
- Have your read?
- US Treasury Secretary warns about a complete European ban on Russian gas
- The United Kingdom to approve first new coal mine in 30 years
Income Statement:
- Revenue: N90.60 Billion, compared to N71.47 Billion in Q1 2021 (26.77% YoY Growth). Of the reported revenue, N87.98 billion came from sell of Cement, N2.51 billion from sell of Aggregate and concrete and N98.94 million came from the sell of mortar.
- Gross Profit: N42.17 Billion, compared to N31.19 Billion in Q1 2021 (35.18% YoY Growth). While it’s grew revenue by 26.77%, WAPCO was able to keep cost of sales relatively down, with on 20.26% increase from N40.27 billion to N48.43 billion.
- Selling and Distribution costs: N15.02 Billion, compared to N12.855 Billion in Q1 2021 (16.86% YoY Increase).
- Administrative Expenses: N5.23 Billion, compared to N4.3 Billion in Q1 2021 (21.27% YoY Increase). N1.92 billion of the reported administrative expenses went to salaries and other staff related costs. Another N1.41 billion was spent on technical service fees.
- Finance Income: N26.19 Million, compared to N171.70 million in Q1 2021 (84.75% YoY Decline).
- Profit Before Tax: N21.46 Billion, compared to N12.77 Billion in Q1 2021 (68.09% YoY Growth);
- Profit After Tax: N17.55 Billion, compared to N9.13 billion in Q1 2021 (92.18% YoY Growth).
- Earnings Per Share: 109kobo (57kobo in Q1 2021).
Balance Sheet:
- Total Assets: N535.63 Billion, compared to N526.83 Billion as at 31st December 2021 (1.67% Growth);
- Total Liabilities: N139.51 Billion, compared to N148.27 Billion as at 31st December 2021 (5.91% Decline);
- Shareholders’ Fund: stood at N396.11 Billion, a 4.64% growth from N378.56 Billion as at 31st December 2021.
- Retained earnings: stood at N207.04 billion, a 9.27% growth from N189.48 billion as at 31st December 2021.
Cashflow:
- Operating activities: N946.12 million was used for operating activities, against N29.91 billion generated in Q1 2021.
- Investing activities: N2.44 billion was used for investing activities, against N3.05 billion used in Q1 2021.
- Financing activities: N7.18 billion was used for financing activities, against N2.21 billion used in Q1 2021.
- Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period was N38.03 billion (Q1 2021: N75.52 billion).
There was no corporate action announcement following the release of the financial statements.
About the Company
Lafarge Africa PLC (Lafarge Africa) was incorporated in Nigeria on 26 February, 1959 and commenced business on 10 January 1961. The Company, formerly known as Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria PLC changed its name after a special resolution was passed by the shareholders at an Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 9 July 2014.
The change of name became effective with the acquisition of shares in Lafarge South Africa Holdings (Proprietary) Limited (LSAH), United Cement Company of Nigeria Limited (UNICEM), AshakaCem PLC (AshakaCem) and Atlas Cement Company Limited (Atlas).
AshakaCem Limited was incorporated in Nigeria on 7 August 1974 as a private limited liability company and was converted to a public limited liability company in July 1990. In April 2017, the shareholders of AshakaCem, at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), passed a resolution to delist the company from the official list of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Subsequent to the delisting of the company, the shareholders of AshakaCem, held a Court-ordered EGM on October 23, 2017, at which a Scheme to re-organize the issued share capital of the company was passed. The resolution passed at the court ordered meeting was subsequently filed and sanctioned by the Federal High Court and the sanction officially gazetted.
At the conclusion of the scheme, Lafarge Africa became 100% owner of the issued share capital of AshakaCem. AshakaCem’s main business is the manufacturing and marketing of cementitious materials.
In November 2019, through a shareholder meeting ordered by the Federal High Court and the resolutions sanctioned by it, Lafarge Readymix Nig Ltd. was merged into Lafarge Africa effectively from 30th November, 2019. The Court Sanction was registered with the CAC and published in the official Gazette of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The Company’s corporate head office is situated at 27B Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos which is the same as the registered office.
Lafarge Africa is in the business of manufacturing and marketing of cement and other cementitious products such as Ready-Mix Concrete, Aggregates, Fly-Ash etc.
On July 15, 2016, Lafarge S.A. France and Holcim Limited, Switzerland, two large global players, merged to form LafargeHolcim Group based in Zurich, Switzerland. Consequently Lafarge Africa is now a subsidiary company of LafargeHolcim (now Holcim Group, by virtue of a name change resolution passed by the shareholders at an Annual General Meeting held on 4 May 2021).
As at December 31, 2021, total shareholding of Holcim Limited (formerly LafargeHolcim Limited) in the Company was 83.81%.
Lafarge Africa Plc has 16,107,795,496 outstanding shares and a market capitalization of N411.55 billion. The share price is N25.55.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
