By Alex C
Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) has recorded a 56.77 percent rise in third quarter (Q3) profit buoyed by effective cost savings, according to analysis of the company’s financial statement.
For the first nine months through September 2014, the company’s profit after tax surged by 56.77 percent to N1.73 billion from N1.10 the same period of the corresponding year (Q3) 2013. Earnings per share (EPS) increased by 56.82 percent to 138.8k from 88k last year.
The growth at the profit was fuelled by a 35.35 percent reduction in operating expenses to N1.88 billion and a 21.64 percent drop in finance costs to N83.64 billion.
The company also reduced its costs of production as cost of sales fell by 2.41 percent to N7.81 billion from N8 billion last year, while cost of sales margin were down to 63.65 percent in 2014, as against 66.28 percent in 2013.
Gross profit margin increased to 36.34 percent in Q3 2014, compared with 33.71 percent due to improved LPFO from Kaduna refinery. Net margin, a measure of profitability and efficiency jumped to 14.1 percent to 9.10 in 2013. Revenues were up slightly by 1.68 percent to N12.27 billion in Q3 2014, in the review period as against N12.07 billion the preceding year.
CCNN is a 50.72 percent-owned subsidiary of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate with business interests in the sugar, flour, real estate, oil and ports and terminals industries. It was incorporated in 1962 and commenced production in 1967, with an initial installed capacity of 100,000tpa at the Kalambaina plant. This was expanded to 0.5mn tpa in 1985, at which time the first line was closed down due to its uneconomic mode of operations.