NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 26 – Cement manufacturing company Bamburi Cement has announced an 11 percent dip in pre-tax profit for the period ending December 2008.
Net income dropped to Sh3.4 billion from Sh3.8 billion for the same period in 2007, Managing Director Hussein Mansi said.
Mr Mansi attributed the decline to increased costs in fuel, electricity and transport.
Turnover grew 24 percent to Sh27.5 billion on the back of strong sales that saw the company transcend the post-election crisis that rocked the country early 2008, which also affected supplies into landlocked neighbouring Uganda.
Despite the challenging operating environment across the region, the group recorded strong sales.
“There was also a strong market recovery after the first quarter of the year,” said Bamburi Cement Chairman Richard Kemoli.
Mr Kemoli said plans are underway to build a third cement plant in the country at a cost of Sh7 billion and double the capacity of its Ugandan plant to 680,000 metric tonnes a year, by December 2009.
Meanwhile, the company\’s Finance Director Joshua Oigara said the company had no intentions of cutting down on investments despite the harsh economic environment.
“We will obviously be careful with our investments and more so look at all options before making a decision,” Oigara said.
The Finance Chief noted that the outlook for this year is not definite but due to the huge infrastructural investments going on in the country, the company’s market may be resilient against the current global economic crunch.
