Nigeria’s building boom, propelled by rapid urbanisation and infrastructure development, laid the groundwork for the 245.9 per cent boost in net profit for Lafarge Africa in the nine months to September.
An earnings release on Wednesday cited higher output and improved plant reliability among the key factors for the strong result.
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“We closed 9M 2025 with net sales and operating profit up 63% and 129% respectively,” CEO Lolu Alade-Akinyemi said in the document.
“Our 9M 2025 performance reaffirms our resilience, underpinned by sustained volume growth, operational excellence, innovative product offerings, and agile response to market opportunities,” he stated further.
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The cement maker, for which Chinese-based Huaxin Cement is battling a stalled takeover bid, reported a 62.8 per cent growth in turnover at N780.5 billion, compared to a year ago.
Cement still crowds out aggregates and concrete and other sources as the biggest contributor to revenue, alone accounting for 96.9 per cent of net sales during the period.
A wave of real estate development in the cities and urban centres of Africa’s most populous nation, where the government requires $6.25 billion in yearly investment to narrow a housing shortfall, is fuelling demand for building materials, particularly cement.
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That, in turn, is leading Lafarge Africa and other market leaders like Dangote Cement (majority owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote) and BUA Cement (controlled by billionaire entrepreneur Abdulsamad Rabiu) swiftly up the profitability path.
The three posted an average growth of 318.1 per cent in after-tax profit for the first half of 2025, compared to the same period of last year. An elevated pricing environment in the sector is also accelerating revenue.
Direct costs as a proportion of turnover fell to 41.6 per cent in the period under review from 50.4 per cent a year earlier, softening the blow of cost pressures on gross profit.
Finance income surged to N20.3 billion from N810.5 million on the back of a dramatic rise in interest income from short-term fixed deposits and current accounts.
ALSO READ: Lafarge Africa reports 352% surge in half-year profit
Pre-tax profit went up 232.1 per cent to N313.3 billion, while post-tax profit climbed to N207.8 billion from N60.1 billion.
Lafarge Africa announced last December Holcim Group, its majority shareholder, had inked a deal to sell its stake to Huaxin Cement, hoping to close the transaction this year.
Strategic Consultancy, a Nigerian minority shareholder in the company, initiated a legal action afterwards, claiming that indigenous shareholders and investors were denied the right of first refusal.
The lawsuit, filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, is yet to be decided.
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