South African cement maker, Pretoria Portland Cement Company (PPC), says it will begin the commissioning of its 600, 000 ton-a-year plant in Rwanda by the end of this year while construction in the DR Congo, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia continues.
In an indication that the company’s African strategy is going full steam ahead in the current financial year, PPC CEO, Ketso Gordhan said, “a positive outcome of a detailed feasibility study into establishing cement operations in Algeria would result in the construction of yet another cement factory in a different African country.”
Gordhan made the comments about its African strategy as the cement maker released its results for the six months to end-March this year.
During the period under review, PPC posted a 2 percent increase in cement sales volumes while group revenue gained 9 percent to R4.1 billion ($395m) on the back of an increase in export volumes and improved cement pricing, among other things.
EBITDA, which refers to profit before costs, increased 5 percent to R1,1 billion ($106m) during the period under review.
Bheki Sibiya, the chairman of PPC, said the company continued to be well-backed by the debt capital markets with an additional R750 million ($72.2m) corporate bond raised in December last year.
