Dangote Cement Plc, the multinational cement giant majority owned by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote, continues to expand its market share in the African cement market, reporting a significant revenue surge to $1.1 billion in the first half of 2024 .
The company's recently published financial results show an 85.1 percent increase in revenue, rising from N942.7 billion ($586.4 million) in the first half of 2023 to N1.76 trillion ($1.1 billion) in the first half of 2024. This growth is attributed to improved efficiency across operations and increased market activity levels.
Foreign exchange losses hit profitDespite the impressive revenue growth, operating expenses and foreign exchange losses affected the company's profit margins. Net foreign exchange losses amounted to N201.3 billion ($125 million), and interest expenses totaled N131.22 billion ($81.7 million). Consequently, the company's profit increased marginally by 6.3 percent, from N178.6 billion ($111 million) in the first half of 2023 to N189.9 billion ($118 million) in the first half of 2024.
"We effectively navigated macroeconomic headwinds to deliver positive results in the first half of the year," said Arvind Pathak, Chief Executive Officer. "Group volumes were up 3.8 percent, with our Nigeria operations achieving double-digit volume growth of 10.9 percent."
