Lafarge Africa (Lafarge Africa Plc) is expected to post historic earnings in fiscal year 2025, with analysts forecasting revenues of 1 trillion naira. Although the company's market value fell by 2.34% in Friday's share market, it is still valued at 2.343 trillion naira. CSL Securities (CSL Stockbrokers Limited) reiterated its "buy" rating on Lafarge Africa in its latest valuation report and set a price target of 199.14 naira per share, with a potential upside of 36.9% from the previous closing price of 145.50 naira per share.
In its unaudited results for the first half of 2025, Lafarge Africa reported a 74.9% year-on-year increase in revenue to N516.98 billion, driven by strong performance across all product categories. The cement industry readjusted its product prices in the face of rising domestic inflationary pressures, and all cement oligarchs raised their prices to varying degrees. Lafarge Africa's cement sales increased by 75.7% year-on-year to N504.36 billion in the first half of 2025, aggregate and concrete sales increased by 46.3% to N12.04 billion, and revenue from other products increased by 72.3% to N577.91 million. In its report
, CSL noted that Lafarge Africa's pre-tax profit rose 328.3% year-on-year to N199.74 billion in the first half of 2025. The company expects the average price of cement to increase by 30% year-on-year in 2025, reaching the 160316 of naira (equivalent to RMB 750), while sales will increase by 16.8% to 6.6 million tons. Driven by both higher prices and growing volumes, analysts expect Lafarge Africa's revenue to reach N1.07 trillion in 2025, up 54.1% from N696.76 billion in fiscal 2024.
CSL expects Lafarge Africa to continue its strong growth in profitability, driven by strong revenue growth, modest cost increases and low finance charges. The company expects pre-tax profit to rise by 198.6% to N455.37 billion in 2025. In the second quarter of 2025, Lafarge Africa's revenue grew by 8.2% quarter-on-quarter to N268.63 billion, up from N248.35 billion in the first quarter. The increase in sales volume reflected strong market demand, mainly due to an increase in government capital expenditure and a significant increase in private sector construction activity. Cement demand is expected to remain strong
as infrastructure construction remains a priority for the government. CSL noted that Lafarge Africa rolled out ECOPlanet cement to the western Nigerian market in 2025, following its launch in 2024. The market share of this product in the western region has exceeded 50%, showing a high degree of customer acceptance. In addition, the company introduced calcium carbonate products in the first quarter of 2025. Analysts expect the market penetration of these innovative products to continue to improve, driving further volume growth in fiscal 2025. Cement prices are expected to remain on an upward trend, driven mainly by continued inflationary pressures and the industry's pricing power.
Despite the pressure of rising costs, Lafarge Africa achieved a gross profit growth of 94.1% to N312.06 billion in the first half of 2025, with its gross profit margin rising to 60.36% from 54.39% in the same period last year. Operating expenses (net of depreciation) increased by 53.9% year-on-year to N107.63 billion, driven by selling and distribution expenses (up 44.3%) and administrative expenses (up 85.8%). Other income (including disposal of fixed assets, government subsidies, scrap sales revenue, etc.) increased by 184.9% year-on-year to 4.72 billion naira.
Lafarge Africa's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the first half of 2025 increased by 126.0% year-on-year to N209.08 billion, with EBITDA margin rising to 40.44% from 31.30% in the same period last year. Strong revenue growth helped the company maintain margins during the period despite pressure from high inflation and high energy prices. In response to cost pressures, Lafarge Africa has adopted a series of cost optimization measures, including the introduction of lower-cost, lower-carbon-emitting calcined clay in key markets and the deployment of 275 compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks in the first half of 2025 to improve logistics efficiency and reduce fuel-related expenses.
These strategic measures will help reduce the growth rate of operating costs, thereby driving a significant increase in EBITDA to N480.67 billion in fiscal year 2025, with EBITDA margins expected to rise from 28% in 2024 to 41% in 2025. Lafarge Africa's net profit reached N7.47 billion in the first half of 2025, a significant improvement from net finance charges of N32.28 billion in the first half of 2024. This improvement was mainly due to a significant increase in finance revenue (N10.25 billion from N1.03 billion in 2024) and a significant decrease in finance costs (N2.78 billion from N33.31 billion in 2024).
CSL expects finance charges to fall further as Lafarge Africa repays its unsecured loan balance from the Central Bank/Boe Fund. The company also plans to benefit from high-yielding short-term deposit opportunities through its strong cash reserves. As a result, analysts expect net finance income from Lafarge Africa to reach N15.03 billion in 2025, a significant improvement from net finance charges of N40.49 billion in 2024.
Lafarge Africa's pre-tax profit in the first half of 2025 increased by 328.3% year-on-year to 199.74 billion naira, while tax expenses increased from 17.28 billion naira in 2024 to 67.06 billion naira, with a net profit of 132.68 billion naira. This represents an increase of 352.1% from N29.35 billion in the same period in 2024. Earnings per share (EPS) also increased by 352.1% year-on-year to N8.24. CSL expects Lafarge Africa's profitability to continue to grow strongly, driven by strong revenue growth, modest cost increases and low financial obligations.
However, CSL noted that despite the overall strong outlook for Lafarge Africa, there is still some uncertainty about its proposed acquisition by Huaxin Cement. Management is confident that the transaction will be completed successfully, but the ongoing legal dispute initiated by the strategic advisory firm, a minority shareholder, and challenges from other stakeholders may delay the transaction. If these legal proceedings are not resolved quickly, they could delay the acquisition and subsequent mandatory tender offer (MTO), thereby adding a layer of uncertainty to Lafarge Africa's strong prospects.