Assets in rest of Africa shore up PPC earnings
Attributable net profit in the six months to September nearly triples to R294m from R102m
PPC chalked up soaring attributable net profit in the six months to September, nearly tripling it to R294m from R102m in the same period in 2016 — well within guidance in the group’s recent trading update. A “strong performance” from its rest-of-Africa cement assets boosted its regional earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) by 25%, as group ebitda grew 4% to R1.2bn. The results bode well for a potential bidding war that now favours PPC shareholders. The group this week effectively rejected a joint conditional partial offer by South African cement producer AfriSam and Canada’s Fairfax insurance group, saying it significantly undervalued PPC. The results and substantial investment in new capacity in SA and the rest of the continent has put the valuation of the group up in the air. “Essentially, it is a very good set of results,” interim CEO Johan Claassen said. Group capital expenditure was much lower than previously due to the company’s new cement oper...
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