Lafarge

Yeah.

I think on the positive side is, as you said in the introduction, the Lafarge transaction really did come at a very good time.

And if it wasn't for our aggregate business, we would have been in trouble.

So our cash generation, you'll see when our results come out, the cash generation actually wasn't too bad.

But I think the one positive is that the construction material business is performing really well.

That was the previous Lafarge quarry operations.

So if there's a bit of light in the tunnel, I would say this is it.

By digging the numbers, and we need to see the full results, they're due 22nd of the month.

But the one positive side is that the construction and materials business is performing quite well.

That's the former Lafarge quarry operation.

So it's not looking all doom and gloom.

Melissa, we've got 20 seconds, but our fuel import bill is higher than it's been since we became a democracy.

Starts off with HPM Nigeria.

HPM Nigeria is a firm formerly known as Lafarge.

africa so the board will be meeting 29th of october to consider q3 numbers and let's see that of aradale um aradale's board will be meeting on the 27th of october so the last week of october is going to be a busy busy busy busy busy one i think we've been listening ladies and gentlemen see you all at market close

And so we lived in Western Canada for 10 years.

And there I was selected, you know, in a program for Lafarge, you know, the French cement company, which was a very, you know, prestigious company to work for in France.

And working that plant for a few years, I even had, you know, got my blaster certificate.

And then I left that job to take over a family business, which was a fly-in company.

That's been enough time.

It's enough time now for Boa, Lafarge, Dango tape industries to have been able to reduce the cost of portray of

cement to the point where imports are

not viable.

Nigeria's cement capacity grew from roughly 2 million to nearly 48 million metric tons per annum between 2002 and 2019.

Dangote invested in massive-scale kilns that out-competed rivals, developed coal mining operations to cut fuel costs, negotiated machinery discounts from Chinese contractors, and maintained a cost-to-revenue ratio of 30-40% against Lafarge, Nigeria's 70-80%.

By Schumpeterian standards, this was a genuine competitive success.

But between 2011 and 2016, Dangote's immense profits more than tripled, whereas average wages per employee over the same period fell in real turns.

So they have a whole lot of things, but I think it's when they decided to tackle corruption systemic corruption and they went out and set up something called economic and financial crimes commission now these are not nuisance right they were there 20 years ago already and they were attending to them it's still a tough neighborhood to do business no doubt but if you look at mtn registering 100 million subscribers out there you understand just let me give you the top 20 stocks that have performed well not over the past year or two but over the past and you'll see what a mix it is.

You have Lafarge, which is construction.

You have Honeywell Flower, Dangote Sugar.

You have Oando, which is oil.