The offer to buy 58.2% of the capital of Carthage Cement by a consortium of investors from Burkina Faso (Boureima Ouédraogo and the International Investment Company, a subsidiary of the Burkinabe group CIM Metal Group), was finally rejected by the Tunisian state.
Questioned by Africanmanager on the authenticity of information reporting this refusal, the state holding Al Karama, which manages Carthage Cement, did not deny and therefore did refute the refusal to sell.
Last January 13, the commission for the management of confiscated property (Carthage Cement being a company confiscated since 2011) of the Ministry of Finance finally reviewed the Burkinabe offer pending in its offices since June 22, 2021. More than six months later, however, the commission deemed the bid for the 58.2% of Carthage Cement for $237 million “well below the minimum required and the minimum value required. It is not known how much the Burkinabe investor had offered. It is known, however, in addition to the financial offer, it had offered to take charge of the construction of a special dock for cement carriers in Rades, which would serve all professionals in the sector, and could boost the export of Tunisian cement, especially to Africa and even Europe.
– A cement plant that performs, despite aggressive local competition
Otherwise, Carthage Cement closes the year 2021 with a new performance. Indeed, the total turnover reached 325 million dinars, up 29% compared to 2020 and 30% compared to 2019 which is the reference year.
Moreover, another performance was achieved through the surge in export sales that have been quadrupled and increased the export turnover of 8.936 MTND in 2020 to 47.650 MTND in 2021.
Sales, despite the difficulties posed to it at the port by the Stam, and even by its local competition that appropriates a whole port dock to the import of petroleum coke, without managing to make more than 72.3 MTD of income to June 60, 2021, against 163.8 MTD for Carthage Cement on the same date. The company is performing well, despite a local situation, aggressively competitive.
At Carthage Cement also, the annual production of clinker and cement has posted a rise of 12% and 22% respectively compared to the same period last year, to reach 1.486 million tons of clinker and 1.782 million tons of cement.
This performance has enabled Carthage Cement to maintain its leading position on the local market by achieving a 14% growth in turnover in the local market compared to 2020.
A strong recovery is also recorded at the level of export (cement and clinker), since the turnover has been quadrupled, and this, from 8.936 million dinars in 2020 to 47.650 million dinars in 2021, up 433%.
At December 31, 2021 the debt dropped 5.25% compared to December 31, 2020, to 412.693 MDT.
It should be noted that the company has honored all its financial commitments due in 2021 within the deadlines.
