The United Cement Company Nigeria Limited, Calabar, Cross River State, will commence full operation by the end of the second quarter of 2008. The factory, which has Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc as the core investor, is over 65 per cent complete in its civil works. Disclosing this on Wednesday at a pre- annual general meeting briefing, the Managing Director, Flour Mills, Mr. Emmanuel Ukpabi, said the first kiln of the cement factory would be fired in April 2008 while full operation would commence by the end of the second quarter.

He said the disbursement of the syndicated loan by the bankers was ongoing satisfactorily, adding that the key concern that was receiving management’s attention was the construction of a gas pipeline to the plant.
According to him, “When completed, the cement plant, with an annual production capacity of 2.5 million tons, will boost the economic activities of Cross River State and the neighbouring states.
“We are confident that UNICEM will leverage on the global industrial experience of its technical partners to produce cement of international standard.” Speaking on the acquisition of the Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc, he said the company’s growth momentum suffered a temporary setback during the year.

He pointed out that there was no appreciable growth in turnover due to intense competition.
He said, “It is instructive to note that FMN Plc increased its stake in the equity of NNFM from 46 per cent to 53 per cent in March 2007 thereby making the latter a subsidiary. “Turnover was N4.8bn, a slight decrease of about two per cent. Margins were also eroded due primarily to NNFM’s inability to raise the price of its products in the face of high raw material costs coupled with increases in the cost of energy and transportation.”

He also revealed that Association of Flour Millers had contributed N500m which would be disbursed as loans to cassava processors in order to encourage its production as well as meet the directive of the Federal Government that five per cent of cassava be added to flour.

According to company’s financial statement for the year ended March 31, 2007, the group’s turnover increased from N86.6bn to N105.7bn representing a growth of 22 per cent while the profit before tax went up from N6.3bn to N9.8bn.The profit after tax and minority interests rose from N4.7bn to N7.5bn.