A section of Bamburi Cement premises in Mombasa. FILE photo | nmg
Bamburi Cement has announced that its net
profit for the year to December 2017 has dropped by Sh3.9 billion to
Sh1.97 billion due to lower sales in the Kenyan market.
The
NSE-listed cement maker says it was hampered by the prolonged election
cycle, tightened liquidity due to the interest rate capping law, drought
and delayed infrastructure projects.
As a result, Bamburi closed last year with Sh35.9 billion in
revenues, representing a contraction of six per cent when compared to
Sh38.3 billion the firm recorded in 2016.
Contracted market
“The
group’s turnover decreased following lower sales in Kenya due to the
contracted market following lower sales in Kenya due to contracted
market,” the cement maker said in a statement.
“Uganda sales were broadly flat in both domestic and export markets.”
The cement maker’s finance costs for the year under review increased nearly three times to Sh263 million.
Its
assets increased from Sh21.8 billion to Sh33.2 billion following a
revaluation on land, plant and equipment, which is conducted every five
years, bumping assets in Kenya and Uganda by Sh5.7 billion and Sh419
million respectively.
Capacity expansion
The
cement maker its capacity expansion of 1.8 million tonnes in the two
countries is on course, with commissioning of the new plants scheduled
for the second half of this year.
Bamburi’s board of
directors has announced a final dividend payment of Sh1.5 per share,
which is addition to the interim dividend of Sh2.5 per share paid out
last October.
“The market is expected to rebound in
line with the projected growth in domestic and regional markets in
2018,” the cement maker said in its statement.
“The key focus will be the successful entry of the new capacity volumes into the market and improvement of customer offering.”
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