Lafarge Africa plans to raise N140bn equity after 2016 losses

Lafarge Africa wants to raise 140 billion naira ($445.9 million) in fresh equity and convert some loans into shares as part of a planned rights issue after it reported losses last year.
The Nigeria-based business of Franco-Swiss cement group Lafarge Holcim, will seek shareholder approval next month for the capital raising and for loans from existing shareholders to be converted into equity, it said on Monday.
The move follows a similar exercise by Diageo-owned Guinness Nigeria, with businesses in the country having to contend with a second year of a recession brought on by low oil prices that cut government revenue and crippled dollar supplies in Africa’s biggest economy.
Lafarge Africa swung to a full-year pretax loss of 22.82 billion naira last year from a profit of 29.29 billion naira in 2015, it reported in March, though it returned to profit in the first quarter of this year.
Shares in the company are up by more than 20 percent this year, having registered a 58 percent slump in 2016.
Source: Reuters