Lafarge Africa’s latest earnings report shows 8.5% decline in gross profit 

Lafarge Africa Plc has announced its financial report for the nine months ended September 30th, 2019. A close look at the report shows that the company made conscious effort to reduce costs/expenses. But did this invariably impact positively on profit? Well, find out in the breakdown below.

Revenue: The cement maker’s group revenue for the period is N163 billion. When compared to N234.3 billion reported in September 2018, it can be seen that there was a 30.4% decline. Meanwhile, the cost of sales also reduced by as much as 37.2% to N111.7 billion as against N178.2 billion reported during the comparable period in 2018.

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In the same vein, selling and marketing expenses reduced to N3.1 billion during the period under review compared to N4.4 billion as at September last year. Administrative expenses also reduced drastically by 59.9% to N13 billion, all the way from N32.6 billion during the comparable period last year.

Gross Profit: Lafarge Africa’s gross profit for the period stood at N51.2 billion, an 8.5% decline compared to N56 billion as at September last year. Note that gross profit is calculated by deducting the cost a company incurred manufacturing and selling its products during a given period.

Moving on, the company reported that its profit before minimum tax stood at N20.1 billion, compared to a loss before minimum tax of N14.3 billion as at September last year.

Profit from continuing operation was reported at N20.5 billion as against a loss of N10.3 billion during the comparable period in 2018.

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Earnings per share attributable to ordinary shareholders stood at N7.46 compared to N1.20 last September.

Get the full report here.