{"id":266554,"date":"2025-11-24T11:29:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T12:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/?p=266554"},"modified":"2025-11-24T18:05:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:05:36","slug":"ppc-says-efficiency-drive-cements-sustainable-turnaround-as-earnings-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/builder\/ppc-says-efficiency-drive-cements-sustainable-turnaround-as-earnings-surge\/","title":{"rendered":"PPC says efficiency drive cements sustainable turnaround as earnings surge"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post<\/a> was originally published on this site<\/a><\/p>

<\/p>\n

Tawanda Karombo<\/p>\n

PPC chief executive Matias Cardarelli has said that the cement producer\u2019s sharpened focus on operational efficiencies and cost containment has firmly set the group on a sustainable recovery path, after it delivered strong half-year earnings despite pressure from foreign exchange losses linked to its expansion programme.<\/p>\n

Cardarelli told Business Report in an interview on Monday that PPC\u2019s disciplined cost management strategy has allowed it to consistently keep expenses below inflation across all its operating regions. The group has operations in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana.<\/p>\n

\u201cW<\/span>e continue bringing savings in overhead,<\/span> and <\/span>we are running our operations much more efficiently.<\/span> <\/span>We are producing more, more cement from our integrated plants<\/span>,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Concurrently, PPC was continuing to invest in its <\/span>assets, in the technology<\/span> and <\/span>in maintenance<\/span>. It is building a new R3 billion cement plant in the Western Cape while it has just completed a plant performance improvement upgrade in Zimbabwe, helping it up production capacity<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>By producing more<\/span> y<\/span>ou reduce indirectly your increase<\/span>s in<\/span> cost<\/span>s<\/span> and also your variable cost<\/span>s<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span>Again, you reduce electricity consumption, you reduce thermal consumption.<\/span> <\/span>So I will say that <\/span>its all about <\/span>how efficiently you run your operations<\/span>,\u201d Cardarelli explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the half-year period to the end of September, PPC lifted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) by <\/span>23<\/span>.<\/span>5% to R983 million<\/span>. This was after revenues for the period quickened 6.2% to above R5bn.<\/span><\/p>\n

Headline earnings per share (HEPS) <\/span>adjusted for unrealised foreign exchange losses<\/span> for the half year firmed up by <\/span>32% to 29 cents<\/span> while n<\/span>et cash inflow before financing activities increased by 32% to R661<\/span>m.<\/span><\/p>\n

PPC attributed this to s<\/span>trong operational momentum <\/span>although the HEPS performance had been <\/span>impacted by non-cash unrealised foreign<\/span> <\/span>exchange losses on foreign exchange contracts taken out to hedge US dollar exposure<\/span> <\/span>on the construction of the new Western Cape plant<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turnaround was accelerating for the SA cement operations, which raised revenues by 2.4% to R3.2bn, with Ebitda soaring 30.5% to R569m.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Zimbabwe, strong volume <\/span>growth resulted in revenue increasing by 23.4% to <\/span>nearly R2bn. There was strong second quarter recovery <\/span>after the extended planned <\/span>plant <\/span>shut-down of plant in<\/span> the first quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n

PPC Zimbabwe declared a $20 million dividend for the half-year after an 11% Ebitda increase to <\/span>R446<\/span>m.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding on last year’s foundations, the plant performance improvement plan, additional distribution and logistics efficiencies and commercial opportunities to enhance contribution margin will continue to drive value creation and results growth,\u201d the company said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Group cost of sales for the interim period increased by 4.3% to R4.2bn, described by the company as a \u201clower rate of increase than revenue which, when combined with a 5,6% decrease in administration <\/span>and other operating\u201d expenses.<\/span><\/p>\n

There was also a decrease in the provision for expected credit losses. All this translated to a significant 37% increase in trading profit to R688m, with capital expenditure during the period totalling R225m excluding the advance payment on the Western Cape plant.<\/span><\/p>\n

The main contributor to the capex increase of R39m was constituted of maintenance <\/span>expenditure in Zimbabwe of R110m due to the planned extended shutdown in the Colleen Bawn plant. This expenditure forms part of the three-year plant performance improvement plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

This left group net cash at an improved R310m, which was, however, lower by R60m compared to a net cash position of R370m as at end March 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

BUSINESS REPORT<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tawanda KaromboPPC chief executive Matias Cardarelli has said that the cement producer\u2019s sharpened focus on operational efficiencies and cost containment has firmly set the group on a sustainable recovery path, after it delivered strong half-year earnings despite pressure from foreign exchange losses linked to its expansion programme.Cardarelli told Business Report in an interview on Monday that PPC\u2019s disciplined cost management strategy has allowed it to consistently keep expenses below inflation across all its operating regions. The group has operations in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana.\u201cWe continue bringing savings in overhead,\u00a0and\u00a0we are running our operations much more efficiently.\u00a0We are producing more, more cement from our integrated plants,\u201d he said.Concurrently, PPC was continuing to invest in its\u00a0assets, in the technology\u00a0and\u00a0in maintenance. It is building a new R3 billion cement plant in the Western Cape while it has just completed a plant performance improvement upgrade in Zimbabwe, helping it up production capacity\u201cBy producing more\u00a0you reduce indirectly your increases in\u00a0costs\u00a0and also your variable costs.\u00a0Again, you reduce electricity consumption, you reduce thermal consumption.\u00a0So I will say that\u00a0its all about\u00a0how efficiently you run your operations,\u201d Cardarelli explained.During the half-year period to the end of September, PPC lifted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) by 23.5% to R983 million. This was after revenues for the period quickened 6.2% to above R5bn.Headline earnings per share (HEPS) adjusted for unrealised foreign exchange losses\u00a0for the half year firmed up by\u00a032% to 29 cents\u00a0while net cash inflow before financing activities increased by 32% to R661m.PPC attributed this to strong operational momentum\u00a0although the HEPS performance had been impacted by non-cash unrealised foreign\u00a0exchange losses on foreign exchange contracts taken out to hedge US dollar exposure\u00a0on the construction of the new Western Cape plant.Turnaround was accelerating for the SA cement operations, which raised revenues by 2.4% to R3.2bn, with Ebitda soaring 30.5% to R569m.In Zimbabwe, strong volume\u00a0growth resulted in revenue increasing by 23.4% to nearly R2bn. There was strong second quarter recovery\u00a0after the extended planned\u00a0plant\u00a0shut-down of plant in\u00a0the first quarter.PPC Zimbabwe declared a $20 million dividend for the half-year after an 11% Ebitda increase to R446m.\u201cBuilding on last year’s foundations, the plant performance improvement plan, additional distribution and logistics efficiencies and commercial opportunities to enhance contribution margin will continue to drive value creation and results growth,\u201d the company said.Group cost of sales for the interim period increased by 4.3% to R4.2bn, described by the company as a \u201clower rate of increase than revenue which, when combined with a 5,6% decrease in administration and other operating\u201d expenses.There was also a decrease in the provision for expected credit losses. All this translated to a significant 37% increase in trading profit to R688m, with capital expenditure during the period totalling R225m excluding the advance payment on the Western Cape plant.The main contributor to the capex increase of R39m was constituted of maintenance\u00a0expenditure in Zimbabwe of R110m due to the planned extended shutdown in the Colleen Bawn plant. This expenditure forms part of the three-year plant performance improvement plan.This left group net cash at an improved R310m, which was, however, lower by R60m compared to a net cash position of R370m as at end March 2025.BUSINESS REPORT<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":266556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-builder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266554"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266555,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266554\/revisions\/266555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}