Business: South Africa largest PPC cement producer delays earnings again

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 08:22 am

PPC Ltd. delayed the launch of its full-year income for a third time as South Africa’s largest cement maker continues to fix accounting blunders and strives to finalize a refinancing plan.

The Johannesburg-based agency will now post its monetary outcomes in the week of Oct. 5, according to a declaration on Wednesday. PPC has been making adjustments to valuations of assets in Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, whilst a deal with South African lenders is expected to be reached subsequent month.

The 128-year-old enterprise has struggled this 12 months as a prolonged recession and Covid-19 lockdown depressed demand in its domestic market.

The stock has lost almost 90% of its value in the past 12 months, valuing the company at R813 million, and the group was once considering a rights trouble of about R1.25 billion, human beings familiar with the remember said in August.

The shares jumped on information that the crisis might also soon be resolved, gaining 16% to fifty nine rand cents as of 9:09 a.m. in Johannesburg.

PPC has considered a resurgence of activity in view that South Africa eased its strictest types of lockdown, recording a double-digit increase in cement volumes in June and July with a continued excessive charge in August and September.

This has been due to the want to capture up on delayed development projects, the enterprise said.Total borrowings in the South African operations have decreased by extra than R200 million as a result of the elevated cash generation.

The group’s worldwide operations additionally noticed double-digit increase year-on-year in July.PPC’s South African lenders encompass FirstRand Ltd.’s Rand Merchant Bank, Nedbank Group Ltd. and Standard Bank Group Ltd.

South African money supervisor Value Capital Partners has been building a stake in PPC, turning into the second-largest shareholder, and its chairman, Anthony Ball, took up an government director role at the cement maker. Africa’s biggest asset manager, the Public Investment Corp., has appreciably decreased its stake.

(IOL)

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