Nigeria's three cement giants are showing significant differentiation, reflecting their different choices in cash sales and credit sales models. The financial data for 2025 as of the end of September shows that although cement demand remains strong, more and more transactions are completed through credit sales, and the scale of credit sales has reached a six-year high.
Overall, the accounts receivable of Dangote Cement, BUA Cement and Lafarge Africa increased by 32% year-on-year to 65.2 billion naira. At the same time, the industry's total revenue reached N4.79 trillion, driven by an increase of about 40%, mainly due to the market expansion of BUA Cement and the pan-African business layout of Dangote Cement. However, behind the expansion of income scale, there are obvious differences in the quality of repayment.
In terms of specific enterprises, the accounts receivable of Dangote Cement, the industry leader, increased from 44.9 billion naira in the same period last year to 54.2 billion naira, and the accounts receivable of Lafarge Africa doubled from 4.4 billion naira to 10.8 billion naira. By contrast, BUA Cement has kept its accounts receivable strictly at a very low level of N211 million, showing its clear preference for a cash transaction model. The ratio of
accounts receivable to business income can better reveal the real situation of sales returns. Dangote Cement's ratio fell slightly to 1.71% from 1.73% in the same period last year, while Lafarge Africa improved from 1.79% to 1.41%, while BUA Cement was only 0.024%. This indicator directly reflects the proportion of credit sales in total sales-the higher the ratio, the longer the cash withdrawal cycle; the lower the ratio, the stronger the cash conversion ability and the more stable the liquidity.
The data show that although Dangote and Lafarge have strong market penetration, their revenue structure is relatively more dependent on credit sales, and book revenue has not been fully converted into immediate cash flow, which may pose a potential pressure on their working capital. BUA Cement's extremely low ratio means that the vast majority of its revenues are realized in cash, giving it greater liquidity flexibility. However, it is worth noting that the cash balance of BUA Cement in 2025 decreased from N185.1 billion in 2024 to N154.8 billion, indicating that even with limited credit exposure, other operational or financing factors may still have an impact on cash reserves.
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