BUA Cement, yesterday released its full year 2023 Audited Financial Statements and Accounts indicating strong revenue growth of over 27 per cent, or N460billion. This leap was achieved despite the challenging economic conditions that arose from the Naira redesign policy, the Company posted a strong revenue growth of 27.4% to N460 billion.
Nonetheless, due to the devaluation of the Naira from the midst of last year and its continued depreciation, as well as growing inflation, the Company faced increasing price pressures which impacted production costs, as these increased by 39.5 per cent,to N276 billion, as against N197.9 billion in 2022.
According to a statement issued by the conglomerate In the release yesterday, BUA Cement reported a net foreign exchange loss of N70 billion in the review period, as against N5.5 billion, the previous year, with N52.5 billion attributed to finance costs, associated with the construction of the additional 3mmtpa lines at Obu and Sokoto, inclusive of other ancillary activities) and the sum of N17.5 billion attributed to foreign trade payables.
Notwithstanding the developments, the Company reported a net profit after tax of N69.5 billion.
The Managing Director/ CEO, Yusuf Binji, while reacting to the results, said: “ Clearly, the operating environment in 2023 was challenging, given the different headwinds confronted with at the start of the year and especially with the devaluation of the Naira. During the year, we launched the maiden edition of the BUA Cement Scratch and Win promo., among other initiatives, which saw BUA Cement further increase its share of the market and resulted to a 27.4 per cent rise in revenues to N460 billion from N361 billion in the prior year.
“In addition, we commissioned the new 3mmtpa lines at the Sokoto and Obu Plants, activated a new 70MW gas power plant in Sokoto and eagerly await the activation of the 70MW gas power plant at Obu during the first quarter of 2024,” Binji said, adding that apart from these, “we took delivery of over 500 trucks to support our distribution activities, which further deepened our market presence.
He said these investments further “ reinforces our purpose,’ which is to be ‘A highly competitive leader in Nigeria’, as we address not only the housing and infrastructure needs in a sustainable manner, but also seek out innovative ways to making cement affordable.”
On the companies financial performance, the Chief Financial Officer, Jacques Piekarski said: “Our financial performance in 2023 was indeed resilient given the economic environment, led by the devaluation of the Naira. But despite the reported foreign exchange loss, EBITDA increased by 9.6 per cent to N169.3 billion from N154.5 billion in 2022,” adding, “we are confident about the business, together with the evolving strategy to thrive.”
