PPC's headline earnings up 50%

CONSTRUCTION material producer PPC has delivered a 50% rise in headline earnings per share to 96c in the six months to March from a year ealier.

Group revenue was up 9% to R4.157-billion due to increased export volumes‚ the consolidation of sales from Safika Cement and Cimerwa‚ improved cement pricing and the weaker rand against the dollar and the Botswana pula.

Operating profit‚ excluding the effect of the broad- based black economic empowerment charges and Zimbabwe indigenisation costs‚ was up 3% to R884-million.

An interim dividend of 38c a share was declared‚ unchanged from the previous comparable period.

Chief executive Ketso Gordhan said: "PPC's group cement sales ended 2% higher during the period.

"Improvements in export sales and the consolidation of sales from our Rwanda operation and newly acquired Safika Cement business were partly offset by declining sales volumes in South Africa and Botswana."

The company said it would commission a 600000- ton-a-year plant in Rwanda by the end of this year as part of its Africa expansion strategy.

A positive outcome of a detailed feasibility study into establishing cement operations in Algeria would result in the construction of another cement factory in Africa. – BDlive