TheCable

Lafarge Africa Plc has announced a 2.3 percent growth in net sales from N117 billion in the first half of 2019 to N120 billion in the first half of 2020.

However, net sales in the second quarter of 2020 dropped by 5.1 percent to stand at N56.8 billion from N59.8 billion in Q2 2019.

According to the half-year results published by the company, the total net income in the quarter under review was N15.2 billion up from N5.8 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter in 2019.

The results also showed that the company reduced its net financial debt which stood at N37.1 billion as of December 31, 2019, to N15 billion as of June 30, 2020.

The cost of sales also increased marginally to N78.8 billion in half-year 2020 from N78.4 billion in half-year 2019, while the gross profit jumped to N41.7 billion from N39.5 billion during the same period.

Sales and marketing expenses were reported to have fallen to N1.6 billion from N1.7 billion, while the administrative costs reduced to N7.8 billion from N11.3 billion.

Commenting on the results, Khaled El Dokani, the chief executive officer of Lafarge Africa said: “Q2 results remained resilient with net sales of -5.1% and recurring EBIT +29.7%, compared to the prior-year period, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation of our ‘health, cost and cash (HCC) initiatives’ have delivered a considerable improvement in our performance”.

The company said its medium to long-term outlook remains positive despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses.

It also said it would continue to focus on business resilience to maintain a healthy balance sheet while prioritising the health and wellbeing of its people, communities and other stakeholders.