Lagos — A 33-billion naira (R1.25bn) writedown on Lafarge Africa’s operations in SA and Nigeria pushed the cement company to a wider loss in 2017 than the previous year, sending its shares sharply lower. The one-off impairment charge left the African division of Franco-Swiss group Lafarge Holcim with a pretax loss of 34.03-billion naira, it said on Monday, just months after making its first capital increase in a decade. That figure missed market forecasts and was down from a loss of 22.82-billion naira in 2016. The division’s Lagos-listed stock fell more than 7% after earlier touching a one-year low. Chief financial officer Bruno Bayet said he expected 2018 to bring growth. "The operations in Nigeria are very robust and we have maintained strong performance." Lafarge Africa’s sales rose 36% in 2017, he said. Nigeria’s cement industry has been hit by slow demand arising from weak economic growth in Africa’s most populous nation, which recently emerged from a recession and a currency ...
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