Cement producer,
For the 2019 financial year, the group maintained sales volumes at prior year levels of 323 000 tons although the construction industry suffered a 14 percent decline during the same year, according to the
Indications from the cement maker are that the Covid-19 induced lockdown has had an inevitable impact on previously forecast 2020 volumes due to complete lockdown of the company's distribution channels.
Government declared a national lockdown effective
The pandemic has caused damage to economies across the globe with production significantly reduced as businesses observed the lockdown regulations coupled with reduced demand and supply chain disruptions.
For Lafarge, the cement maker anticipated seeing the negative impact of the pandemic in the second quarter of 2020, effects that can spill over into the second half of the year.
"It is projected that Q2 2020 volumes will decline by 30 percent with the possibility of spill over risks impacting the second half of the year," said Lafarge in a statement accompanying the group's financials for the year to
"The ripple effects of the lockdown and border closures are still to be quantified but the company expects to continue to feel the effects of Covid- 19 outbreak well in the second half of the year.
"The net effect will be a slowdown in aggregate demand in the core individual home builder market with foreign funded projects becoming more and more essential in sustaining operations," said Lafarge.
In 2019, Lafarge's profit surged 2000 percent to
The business achieved improved margins as gross profit rose 251 percent to
Chairman,
The company achieved a revenue growth of 104 percent to
The business revalued it's property, plant and equipment and this resulted in a net after tax revaluation gain of
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