East African Portland Cement narrows loss to Sh907mn on costs containment

NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 26-The East African Portland Cement Company has narrowed its half year loss in the six months to December to Sh907.1 million from Sh1.035 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The loss reduction attributed to costs containment efforts with both administrative and finance costs falling.

Even so, the firm’s revenues declined to Sh967.6 million from Sh1.4 billion offsetting gains from reduced cost of sales.

The falling revenues were attributed to a working capital deficit which has curbed operations.

Administration and selling expenses were down nearly two per cent to Sh532.4 million from Sh540.5 million.

Meanwhile, finance costs for the manufacturer fell by 62.4 per cent to Sh101.3 million from Sh269.5 million.

The company is hopeful of a continued turnaround in fortunes on ongoing reorganization initiatives.

“From the foregoing business performance, the yields from the business reorganization initiatives continue to materialize. The company is currently at the tail end of terminating the Sh6.8 billion bank loan and has successfully negotiated for the cessation of interest in light of the progress made in settling the debt,” the firm said in a statement.