Africa-Press – Tanzania. TWIGA Cement posted a 30 per cent pre-tax profit increase in the first half of this year despite the industry strong competition and Covid-19 uncertainties.
The firm listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) posted a pre-tax profit increase of 66.028bn/- in this year’s first half against 50.63bn/- in a similar period last year.
Twiga Chairman Hakan Gurdal said in a statement that both sales volume and revenue increased compared to the year 2020 where revenue increased by 16 per cent compared to the same period in the preceding year.
“Despite strong competition in the cement manufacturing industry and uncertainties brought about by Covdi-19, [we have] delivered a strong operating result when compared to 2020,” Mr Gurdal said. Twiga’s net profit climbed up by almost 32 per cent to 46.09bn/- in H1 compared to 34.94bn/- in H1 last year.
Twiga cement, the largest in the land, the share price climbed to 3,900/- yesterday from 2,500/- at the opening of the year.
“The operating performance and the availability of the plant and machinery were good, thus ensuring clinker production level higher in the first quarter than 2020,” Mr Gurdal said.
The chairman said the cement demand in the country and the East-African region has been growing steadily in recent years. “[Twiga] is well placed to meet this growing demand and will continue to work to maintain its leadership,” the chairman said.
Data showed that by December 2016, five new manufacturers had set up factories in the country, raising annual installed capacity to 10.8 metric tonnes.
But the total production in that year was 7.1 million tonnes while annual consumption was at 4.1 million tonnes, with the balance sold to Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Twiga is the largest producer in the country and followed by Tanga Cement, also listed on DSE, and Dangote Industries Tanzania. The country has some 12 cement factories.
