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Cement maker PPC, has appointed Mokate Ramafoko as its group managing director for industrial and innovation, as part of its bid to improve cost competitiveness.
The group, which published its results for the year ended 31 March 2022 on Monday, said Ramafoko who is the former head of PPC International, will be responsible for industrial performance, new business and decarbonisation.
The new managing director will report directly to CEO Roland Wijnen.
"As PPC experiences a normalisation of cement demand in South Africa following the post-Covid-19 spike, the group, will redouble its efforts to improve cost competitiveness through improved industrial performance and operational excellence," PPC explained.
The cement group’s annual performance remained flat, with its headline earnings per share staying at 2021’s 3 cents. And just like in 2021, PPC did not declare a dividend for 2022.
PPC also managed to decrease its debt by R1.2 billion to R1 billion.
"Our resilient cash generation demonstrates our focus on one of the most important measures of financial performance. These results were further supported by our efforts to drive efficiencies which helped mitigate inflationary pressures," Wijnen said.
The group’s South Africa and Botswana operations saw an improvement in sales volumes from 5% to 9% as demand in informal and rural markets increased. Inland sales also grew on due demand from industrial construction and mining activity.
However, coastal region sales volumes only saw single digit growth.
"Despite the improvement in demand, cement sales in the region are still below pre-Covid-19 levels," PPC said.
In Zimbabwe, the cement producer saw a 28% year-on-year sales volumes increase from retail demand and government-funded projects.
The Rwanda operations also performed well, after Covid-19 restrictions were eased, with cement volumes increasing by 20% year-on-year. Most of the demand came from government-funded projects, exports and retail.
PPC’s share price jumped more than 3% on Monday morning, following its results release.
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