Cement producer Sephaku Cement (SepCem) hoped to bring its Aganang cement production facility on line by end-July, following commissioning during the first half of the year, Sephaku Holdings CEO Dr Lelau Mohuba said on Monday.
SepCem was 36% owned by Sephaku Holdings, with Nigeria-listed Dangote Cement holding the remainder of the company.
Speaking at a presentation of Sephaku Holdings’ results for the year ended March 31, Mohuba noted that the Aganang plant’s cold commissioning had been done in February, with hot commissioning having followed in March.
“A dedicated operational preparedness team has ensured that SepCem meets its targets for completion and market readiness,” he said.
Along with SepCem’s Delmas plant, which started production in January, the Aganang plant brought SepCem’s yearly cement production capacity to 2.5-million tons.
“SepCem will ramp up cement volumes at both plants, not aggressively, but in line with market demand,” Mohuba noted, adding that the company expected to reach steady-state production during the 2015 calendar year.
Further, he put forward that, from the company’s observations, the outlook was not as bad for the construction industry as was commonly believed, adding that SepCem was expecting to see an uptick in the market and was planning to ramp up it output accordingly.
SepCem MD Pieter Fourie said the company was foreseeing producing at 70% to 80% of its capacity over the next two to three years, in line with industry demand.
RESULTS
Sephaku Holdings reported a loss of R2.8-million, a headline loss a share of R2.36 and a pretax profit of R13.4-million for the year ended March 31.
SepCem had, in line with expectations, incurred a R40.9-million loss for the year ended December 31, owing to the noncapital-related expenditure incurred in preparation for market entry and preparation to become a significant competitor in the wholesale and retail cement trade.