Sephaku Holdings, the company with subsidiaries that produce cement, said it anticipates that headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months to September 30 will increase between 72% and 87%.
The company, which has as its core investments a 36% stake in Dangote Cement SA and 100% in Métier Mixed Concrete, said in a trading statement on Friday it expected HEPS to be between 13 cents and 14.1 cents when it reports its interim results on or around November 8.
Basic earnings per share are expected to increase between 69% and 85%, and would be between 13.1 cents and 14.3 cents a share.
The group said the first half performance of Dangote Cement South Africa improved (Sephaku Cement), while the performance was flat for the Métier Mixed Concrete operations.
“Métier and Sephaku Cement both demonstrated resilience and agility in maintaining market share. Deteriorating economic conditions and persistent challenges in the construction sector impacted Métier's sales volumes, but it still managed to retain EBITDA (earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation) and earnings to levels achieved in the same period in the previous financial period,” the group said.
The results will incorporate six-month results for Sephaku Cement for the period ended June 30, 2023. Sephaku Cement delivered strong growth in EBITDA for the first half of calendar 2023.
However, Sephaku Cement’s year-to-date revenue only increased marginally to R2.09 billion (R2.08bn) and EBITDA remained flat at R208 million (R208m).
The previous improved performance was therefore neutralised during the subsequent three-month period, mainly due to unplanned kiln stoppages for repairs that resulted in overheads being absorbed by lower levels of stock production.
BUSINESS REPORT