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On the disclosed 2024 figures, Dangote has the broadest footprint and largest earnings base, BUA combines substantial Nigerian capacity with low reported utilisation, Lafarge Africa provides a smaller Nigerian comparison with reported profit rather than EBITDA, and PPC requires the most careful period and currency adjustment. The investment decision should therefore rest on normalised operating economics, cash generation, balance-sheet risk, governance and valuation—not on raw size.
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Make the four companies comparable before doing any ranking
A peer comparison can produce a false conclusion when one company reports a calendar year, another a March year, and a third presents consolidated figures alongside country or segment data. Build a common comparison sheet and record the following for every company:
- Reporting period: Match the months covered, not merely the year printed on a presentation. PPC’s March year-end does not line up automatically with the December periods used by the Nigerian companies.
- Currency and inflation: Convert rand and naira figures into a single analytical currency only after deciding whether you are comparing nominal results or inflation-adjusted purchasing power. State the exchange-rate date and method.
- Consolidation scope: Use group revenue and group earnings for a group-to-group comparison. Do not compare Dangote’s Nigerian segment with BUA’s consolidated company or with Lafarge Africa’s group result.
- Capital structure: Enterprise-value multiples include debt; equity multiples do not. Record lease liabilities, cash, minority interests and major debt maturities consistently.
- Units: Confirm whether a presentation uses thousands, millions or billions. A unit error can overwhelm every other analytical adjustment.
Only after these checks should you calculate margins, growth rates, enterprise value to EBITDA or price to earnings.
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What the latest disclosed figures show
The table below keeps each company’s disclosed period and currency visible. It is a starting point, not a ready-made ranking.
| Company | Period and reporting basis | Installed capacity | Reported volume/utilisation | Revenue | EBITDA | Profit measure | Geographic or scope note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dangote Cement | FY2024, group, naira | 55.0 MTA across ten countries | Not stated in the cited FY2024 figures | ₦3,580,550 million | ₦1,382,016 million | Not stated in the cited group figures | Nigeria revenue ₦2,192,695 million; Pan Africa revenue ₦1,481,388 million |
| BUA Cement | 2024, group, naira | 17 MMTPA: Obu 9, Sokoto 8 | 8.2 MMT; 56.4% utilisation | ₦876.5 billion | ₦268.6 billion | ₦99.6 billion profit before tax; ₦73.9 billion profit after tax | Two Nigerian operating locations |
| Lafarge Africa | Audited 2024, group, naira | 10.5 MTPA | Not stated in the cited accounts | ₦696.76 billion | Not stated | ₦100.15 billion profit for the year | Ewekoro, Sagamu, Mfamosing and Ashaka plants |
| PPC | March-year reporting; rand | Not stated in the cited disclosure | Not stated | Not stated | R1,593 million, up 28%, versus FY24 R1,242 million | Not stated | Align the March period and convert rand before comparing with Nigerian peers |
Dangote’s 55.0 million tonnes per year is a group capacity figure, whereas BUA’s 8.2 million tonnes is actual 2024 volume. Those are different denominators. Lafarge’s 10.5 MTPA is installed capacity, not reported sales, and PPC’s cited statistic is an EBITDA disclosure without a comparable revenue line.
Read profitability through margins, not absolute naira
Using the disclosed group numbers, Dangote’s FY2024 EBITDA margin is approximately 38.6% (₦1,382,016 million divided by ₦3,580,550 million). BUA’s 2024 EBITDA margin is approximately 30.6% (₦268.6 billion divided by ₦876.5 billion). These are useful screening calculations, but they are not perfectly like-for-like until accounting policies, exceptional items, leases and period definitions are checked.
Lafarge Africa reports profit for the year of ₦100.15 billion on revenue of ₦696.76 billion, an approximate net margin of 14.4%. Net margin cannot be substituted for EBITDA margin: depreciation, finance costs, tax, foreign-exchange effects and one-off items sit below EBITDA. Obtain Lafarge’s operating profit and EBITDA definitions before ranking its cost position against Dangote or BUA.
PPC’s R1,593 million EBITDA, compared with R1,242 million in FY24, indicates a reported 28% increase in the cited disclosure. Without the matching revenue, average exchange rate, months covered and restated comparatives, it cannot be turned into a cross-company margin ranking.
Scale, throughput and utilisation answer different questions
Capacity is a strategic option
Dangote reports 55.0 MTA of capacity across ten countries and describes an “export to import” strategy in West and Central Africa. That footprint can support regional supply and diversify demand, but capacity also requires maintenance, working capital and reliable energy. A large nameplate number creates value only when plants can sell profitably and generate cash.
Volume is the realised output
BUA reports 17 MMTPA installed capacity and 8.2 MMT of 2024 volume. Its stated 56.4% utilisation demonstrates why investors should place capacity and throughput in separate columns. Low utilisation may indicate weak demand, commissioning effects, logistics constraints, planned maintenance or deliberate pricing discipline. Ask which explanation applies before treating unused capacity as either a problem or an opportunity.
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Geographic diversification needs a cash-flow test
Dangote’s FY2024 revenue split was ₦2,192,695 million from Nigeria and ₦1,481,388 million from Pan Africa. The corresponding EBITDA figures were ₦1,087,251 million and ₦345,289 million. Nigeria therefore supplied the larger earnings contribution, while the other markets add geographic reach. Compare each market’s currency, inflation, import exposure, tax regime, political risk and ability to repatriate cash; country count alone does not prove diversification benefits.
Separate real growth from price and inflation
In a high-inflation market, revenue can rise while physical demand falls. Decompose each year’s change into:
- Volume: tonnes sold, domestic versus export.
- Price and mix: average selling price, premium products, bagged versus bulk and customer mix.
- Currency translation: the effect of converting subsidiaries into the reporting currency.
- Acquisitions or disposals: changes in consolidation scope.
- Operating leverage: how fixed plant costs change as utilisation moves.
Request constant-currency growth and like-for-like volume growth. A naira revenue increase should not be called demand growth unless tonnes and pricing support that interpretation. For PPC, align its March-year data with a Nigerian December-year series or use a trailing twelve-month measure built from published quarterly information.
Investigate the cost base that drives cement margins
Cement profitability is highly sensitive to energy and transport. For every company, track the following as a percentage of revenue and, where disclosed, per tonne:
- Power generation and purchased electricity;
- Coal, gas, diesel and other fuel costs;
- Clinker and other raw materials;
- Inbound freight from quarry or import terminal;
- Outbound logistics, haulage and distribution;
- Maintenance, labour and environmental compliance;
- Foreign-currency obligations for equipment, fuel or debt.
Compare the company’s ability to pass cost inflation through to selling prices. A higher EBITDA margin may reflect a temporary fuel advantage, a favourable product mix or a one-time accounting item rather than a durable structural edge. Conversely, a lower margin during a plant ramp-up may improve when utilisation rises, provided demand and distribution capacity are present.
Use the balance sheet and cash flow to test resilience
Profit is not the same as investable cash. Build a debt schedule showing gross debt, cash, net debt, currency, fixed or floating interest, maturity dates, covenants and lease liabilities. Then calculate net debt to EBITDA using the same period and EBITDA definition for every peer.
Review operating cash flow against EBITDA and investigate the bridge: receivables, inventories, payables, taxes, maintenance capital expenditure and expansion capital expenditure. A company can report strong EBITDA while cash is absorbed by customer credit, imported fuel inventories or a large construction programme.
Stress-test at least three cases:
- Demand case: lower tonnes sold with unchanged fixed costs.
- Cost case: higher fuel, electricity and freight costs with delayed price recovery.
- Currency and rates case: weaker local currency, higher interest rates and foreign-currency debt.
Record whether dividends remain covered after maintenance capital expenditure and scheduled debt repayment. Do not treat a stated dividend yield as secure until the cash-flow and balance-sheet tests pass.
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Value each share only after normalising the denominator
For an enterprise-value-to-EBITDA comparison, use a consistent definition of EBITDA, add debt and lease liabilities consistently, subtract cash consistently, and align the market price date with the latest available financial period. For price-to-earnings, use attributable profit, not group profit that includes minorities, and identify exceptional tax or foreign-exchange items.
Do not rank raw naira and rand market values together. Convert the share price, market capitalisation and enterprise value into a common currency at a stated spot date, then separately show the local-currency result because exchange-rate movements can dominate the apparent change. Refresh prices and multiples immediately before publication or an investment decision; they are volatile and were not established by the operating disclosures cited here.
A useful valuation worksheet contains:
| Item | Required treatment | Common error |
|---|---|---|
| EBITDA | Use the same period, accounting definition and exceptional-item policy | Mixing a March-year PPC number with a December-year Nigerian number |
| Net debt | Include current and non-current borrowings, relevant leases and restricted cash policy | Using gross debt for one company and net debt for another |
| Shares | Use diluted, attributable shares where appropriate | Comparing group earnings with a basic share count |
| Currency | Show conversion rate and date, then retain local-currency sensitivity | Concluding that a cheaper rand or naira multiple is automatically better value |
| Growth | Use constant-currency, like-for-like volume and price/mix bridges | Calling inflation-driven revenue growth real demand growth |
Company-by-company questions for investors
Dangote Cement
Start with the split between Nigeria and Pan Africa, then test whether the ten-country network is producing acceptable returns after logistics, taxes and currency translation. The FY2024 group figures show a large Nigerian earnings contribution alongside meaningful Pan Africa revenue and EBITDA. Ask how much capital is tied up in expansion, which markets can remit cash, and how export routes affect delivered margins.
An investor-relations page also lists FY2025 group revenue of ₦4,306,704 billion, group EBITDA of ₦1,981,349 billion, Pan Africa EBITDA of ₦1,763,150 billion and total capacity of 55.0 MTA, and identifies a Nigerian Exchange listing. The displayed FY2025 unit convention should be verified against the underlying filing before calculation, because it differs in presentation from the FY2024 annual-report figures. Treat it as newer information, not as a substitute for a fully aligned peer period.
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BUA Cement
BUA’s two-site footprint makes plant-level analysis practical. Reconcile the 56.4% utilisation rate with maintenance schedules, commissioning timelines, regional demand and dispatch constraints. If utilisation rises, fixed-cost absorption could support margins; if it stays low, additional capacity may dilute returns. Check the relationship between its reported EBITDA, profit before tax and profit after tax, and identify interest, depreciation and tax movements that explain the conversion.
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Lafarge Africa
Lafarge’s four named plants—Ewekoro, Sagamu, Mfamosing and Ashaka—provide 10.5 MTPA of installed capacity. The 2024 accounts report group revenue of ₦696.76 billion and profit for the year of ₦100.15 billion. Before comparing profitability, obtain the EBITDA bridge, plant utilisation, energy mix, debt and cash-flow data; the reported net-profit figure alone cannot establish operating cost leadership.
PPC
PPC’s March year-end and rand presentation make period alignment the central issue. The cited disclosure reports group EBITDA of R1,593 million, up 28% from FY24’s R1,242 million. Determine which twelve months each figure covers, whether the comparative was restated, the geographic composition of the group and the exchange rate used for any cross-border comparison. Only then place PPC in a ranking with December-year Nigerian companies.
Risk, regulation and governance belong in the model
Cement demand is linked to construction activity, public infrastructure budgets, housing finance and industrial investment. A volume forecast should therefore identify its end-market assumptions rather than extrapolate the previous year.
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- Regulation: pricing rules, competition reviews, mining licences, import restrictions, taxes and environmental permits.
- Community and environmental obligations: quarry rehabilitation, emissions, water use, dust, alternative fuels and potential remediation costs.
- Related parties: procurement, sales, financing and management arrangements that could affect arm’s-length economics.
- Disclosure quality: reconciliation of segment data, non-GAAP measures, currency sensitivity, debt detail and timely reporting.
- Execution: plant commissioning, maintenance reliability, distribution reach and the ability to convert capacity into cash sales.
Governance is not an appendix to valuation. Weak disclosure raises the discount rate and makes a seemingly low multiple harder to underwrite.
A practical comparison workflow
- Collect primary filings: download each annual report, audited accounts, results announcement and investor presentation for the same analytical window.
- Build a period map: mark calendar-year, March-year and any nine-month or trailing periods.
- Normalize units and currency: convert thousands, millions and billions correctly; document average and closing exchange rates.
- Separate capacity from output: record installed MTA, tonnes sold, utilisation and commissioning status in different fields.
- Bridge revenue: split volume, price/mix, currency and scope changes.
- Recalculate margins: use reported EBITDA, operating profit and attributable profit with consistent definitions.
- Reconcile cash: move from EBITDA to operating cash flow, maintenance capital expenditure, expansion capital expenditure and free cash flow.
- Stress-test: model demand, energy, currency and interest-rate shocks.
- Value: calculate EV/EBITDA, P/E and dividend yield only with aligned denominators and a clearly dated market price.
- Write the investment case: state the catalyst, principal risk, valuation support and the evidence that would disprove the thesis.
Checklist before buying any of the shares
- Are the periods genuinely comparable?
- Have you separated nominal growth from inflation and currency translation?
- Are capacity, volume and utilisation shown separately?
- Can the company pass fuel, power and freight inflation to customers?
- Does EBITDA convert into cash after working capital and maintenance spending?
- Are debt maturities, interest rates and foreign-currency exposures manageable?
- Is the valuation based on attributable earnings and a consistent share count?
- Does geographic diversification reduce risk after taxes, logistics and repatriation costs?
- Are environmental, regulatory, related-party and disclosure risks reflected in your required return?
- Have you refreshed market prices and multiples immediately before acting?
Bottom line for the comparison
Dangote offers the clearest scale and geographic-diversification story, BUA gives investors a useful utilisation and plant-ramp-up question, Lafarge Africa requires better operating-profit disclosure before a margin comparison, and PPC demands disciplined March-year and rand normalisation. None should be selected from revenue or capacity alone. A defensible choice comes from the peer that combines sustainable price-and-volume growth, resilient energy and logistics economics, cash-backed returns, manageable leverage and governance quality at a valuation justified by those characteristics.
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