Shareholders have commended the initiatives of the management of Dangote
\ncement Plc in upgrading the quality of its cement to 42.5 grade describing
\nthe development as a good response to the demands of the time.<\/p>\n
Speaking one after another at the 2013 Annual General meeting (AGM) of the
\nCompany in Lagos, the shareholders passed a vote of confidence on the
\nmanagement, saying it has exhibited a sense of patriotism and concern for
\nthe users of the product.<\/p>\n
This is just as the Chairman of the Company, Aliko Dangote explained that
\nthe expansion strategies embarked upon by the management would culminate
\nin an increase of additional 9 million metric tonnes of cement capacity.<\/p>\n
Shareholders lauded the Dangote Cement management for rising to the
\noccasion by raising the bar with the 42.5 and 52.5 grades recently
\nrebranded against the background of the incessant building collapse across
\nthe nation.<\/p>\n
They stated that with the upgrade of the cement from the staple of Dangote
\nCement Plc, it would now be cleared that any incident of building collapse
\nanywhere could no longer be traced to the quality of cement, at least the
\none produced by Dangote.<\/p>\n
The Company Chairman disclosed that its expansion drive would increase
\ncapacity and add additional 9 million metric tonnes, expressing
\nsatisfaction that the importation of cement into the country has continued
\nto thin out with an estimate of just 1.1m metric tonnes imported in 2013
\ndown from 1.9m in 2012.<\/p>\n
He vowed that the company would stop at nothing to expand because
\npresently most the Nigeria\u2019s neighbours are importing cement from Far
\nEast. \u201cAnd we are confident that Nigeria\u2019s cement will prove more
\nattractive than the imports, particularly within the 15 member ECOWAS.\u201d<\/p>\n
To stabilize the price of cement and free the consumers from the
\nprofiteering middlemen,\u00a0 Dangote, said that his company would intensify
\ndirect-to-consumer deliveries.<\/p>\n
Insisting that his company has not increased the price of cement, he
\nexplained that though prices of most inputs into cement production has
\ngone astronomically high but that his organization is committed to making
\nthe commodity available to consumers at the most reasonable price.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not increased the prices of our product, we have embarked on an
\ninitiative to improve the standard of cement sold in Nigeria and our
\nbelief is that 42.5 strength cement, is the most appropriate for general
\nuse now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have recently introduced 52.5 strength cement,which is appropriate for
\nheavy load-bearing structures such as bridges and flyovers, we hope to
\nincrease the market share in the short-term by increasing the level of
\ndirect-to-customers deliveries and competing on product superiority\u201d, he
\nstated<\/p>\n
The company Chairman also expressed optimism that the current year would
\noffer better returns because trading has remained robust in the country
\nand the company has started witnessing solid start to the year with demand
\nup in all regions.<\/p>\n
Dangote also informed the shareholders the status of the company\u2019s various
\nAfrican projects as the shareholders one after another shower
\ncommendations on the management of the cement company.<\/p>\n
Said he: In Ethopia, work is well underway, to build 2.5m mtpa plant at
\nMugher with production expected late in 2014. In Tanzania, we have begun
\nwork on a 3m mtpa plant at Mtwara and would be fully operational in 2015.
\nIn Zambia, work is underway on a 1.5m mtpa at Ndola with cement production
\nexpected in second half of 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are reviewing plans for Kenya with a view to increasing the scale of
\nour proposed factory from 1.5 to 3.0m tpa, because we are confident there
\nwill be sufficient demand both in Kenya and neighbouring countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dangote disclosed that plan were afoot to build import and grinding
\nfacilities along the coast of West Africa to receive and process raw
\nmaterials supplied from Nigeria, Senegal, and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
In his comment during an interview journalists, Group Managing Director of
\nDangote Cement Plc, DVG Edwin attributed the impressive results of the
\ncompany to focused and strategic management.<\/p>\n
He stated: \u201cDangote Cement made excellent progress in 2013. As the
\nNigerian cement market grew by a strong 15.6% we managed even better
\ngrowth of 28.2%, with our revenues increasing by 29.4% to ₦386.2bn.
\nOur direct-delivery strategy is proving very popular with customers and I
\nam pleased to report that direct-to-customer deliveries now account for
\nmore than half of our sales.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe increased our margins despite continuing disruption to our gas supply
\nand believe that the gas distribution infrastructure will be more robust
\nin 2014, enabling us to improve our margins even further. At the same time
\nwe are looking at ways to diversify our fuel supplies to mitigate the
\nimpact of any future disruption and reduce the cost of using alternative
\nfuels to gas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur financial strength has allowed us to increase our dividend by 133% to
\n₦7.0 per share and the coming year will see our new factories
\nopening across Africa as we begin to deliver on our promise to become
\nAfrica\u2019s leading cement producer, generating strong and sustainable
\nreturns for our shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shareholders have commended the initiatives of the management of Dangote cement Plc in upgrading the quality of its cement to 42.5 grade describing the development as a good response to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n