BUA Cement Plc (BUACEMENT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the BUA Cement Plc conference call for analysts and investors for the full year ended December 2022. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this call is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Yusuf Binji. Please go ahead, sir.

Good day, everyone. Thank you for taking out the time to be part of this conference call. Presenting with me is Jack Piekarski, the Chief Financial Officer. My name is Yusuf Binji, Managing Director, CEO of BUA Cement Plc. Before we start, let me take this time to recognize and celebrate all women on this call. I say to them, Happy International Women's Day. The operating environment in 2022 was a challenging one for us as every other manufacturing entity will allude to, which was exacerbated by the crisis in Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, it was not all doom and gloom as we attained new feats. First, with the additional line commission in Sokoto, which increased the volumes dispatched into the market. Furthermore, our adoption of a multi-fuel system, complemented by adequate fuel stock aided our manufacturing and distribution activities. During the year, we strengthened our HSE policies and guidance to guard against loss of life and property. And finally, we were awarded the global best premium quality cement brand at the Global Quality Excellence Awards in November last year. If you will kindly turn with me to Slide 6, I'm sure most of you have focused on the presentation. You will see that BUA Cement is the largest cement producer in North-West, South-South and Southeastern parts of Nigeria with the total installed capacity of 11 million metric tons per annum. We are led by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and maintain investment credit ratings assigned by Agusto & Co. and DataPro. Turning to Slide 7 is a highlight of the milestones attained over the years. And on Slide 8, we show our strategic positioning across Nigeria. Turning to Slide 10. You will recall in my introductory statements, that I had mentioned how the increase in output capacity from Sokoto, the adoption of multi-fuel systems, together with an abundance of storage, supplies had mitigated against production and distribution challenges. In view of this, we recorded a 40.3% rise in net revenue to NGN 361 billion from NGN 257 billion as at December 2021. In addition, EBITDA increased by 29.2% to NGN 154.5 billion from NGN 119.6 billion in 2021. However, EBITDA margin decreased by 3.7 points to 42.8% from the 46.5% in 2021, owing to rising cost. Profit after tax increased by 12.1% to NGN 101 billion from NGN 90.1 billion in the prior year, with earnings per share equally up by 12% to NGN 2.98 from NGN 2.66. The expansion projects at Sokoto and Obu are advancing as planned, as you will have seen in the previous slide, you will see in a subsequent slide, too. Also, we are committed to minimizing the impact of our activities on people and the environment, engagement with stakeholders and implementing community development initiatives through tangible investments into the community. To this end, BUA Cement invested sum of NGN 1.1 billion on individual enhancement and community-reaching activities. Moving to Slide 11 is the impact assessment of the cost pressures encountered during the year and our attempt to hold off some of the cost pressures without overburdening our customers. Revenue per ton increased by 21.2% to NGN 57,511 per ton from NGN 47,448 per ton in 2021, following price changes during the year, with EBITDA recording a 29.2% increase to NGN 154.5 billion from NGN 119.6 billion, led by a 40.4% rise in net revenue, but was partly offset by increases in energy costs, operation and maintenance charges, distribution costs arising from an increase in fleet size and fuel costs, foreign exchange losses, depreciation charges, just to mention a few. As a result, EBITDA margin declined by 3.7 percentage points to 42.8% from 46.5% in the prior year. On Slide 12, EBITDA drivers led by net revenue buoyed by both price and volume increases included -- including added volumes from the line that was commissioned in Sokoto. Cost of sales rose by 45.1% or NGN 61.6 billion to NGN 197.9 billion from NGN 136.4 billion in 2021 due to increases in energy costs, operation and maintenance charges, depreciation charges, raw material costs. Net selling and administration costs increased by NGN 7.2 billion to NGN 8.5 billion, given foreign exchange losses from adverse foreign exchange rate improvement, distribution costs resulting from the acquisition of additional trucks and higher fuel costs, depreciation charges, and donation and public relation investments. If we turn to Slide 13, we show the cost movement by [ nature ] and an important line item. Cost of sales per ton rose by 25.4% to NGN 31,535 per ton from NGN 25,149 per ton in 2021, which was due to energy cost, operation and maintenance charges, depreciation charges and raw material costs. Energy cost was up by 36.6% to NGN 14,527 per ton from NGN 9,441 per ton for the corresponding period ended 2021. This was due to a combination of adverse movement in foreign exchange rate, changes in market price and increased operational activity. Net selling and distribution costs rose by 72.3% to NGN 5,309 per ton from NGN 3,082 per ton for the 12 months ended 2021. Factors responsible were: foreign exchange losses, depreciation costs which resulted from an increased fleet size and higher fuel prices, depreciation charges and donation and public relation investments. On Slide 15, we highlight what our priorities are for the current year. As I've highlighted in earlier presentations, value-added -- additive activities will always be pursued. Some existing objectives will be rolled over on a continuous basis, while others will drop off upon attainment. So the pursuit of synergy and new market, or should I say market consolidation, since there is no market without our presence in Nigeria, will continually be pursued. The construction of new lines in Obu and Sokoto remain, of course, and should be completed within the first quarter of 2024. The payment integration exercise is expected to be completed within the next few weeks. Currently, the system is operational. Customers have been migrated, but we have just 1 or 2 added checks before the final sign off. Finally, the transition from LPFO should have been concluded both for the energy challenges experienced. We have to reassess for potential risks. If you turn to me, to Slide 16. We show some of the activities we undertook during the year. These include the donation of 1,000 sets of student desks and chairs at Sokoto, construction of a 3.4 kilometer-Afokpella Road in Edo State, which is in progress, the provision of the solar borehole at Dagelwa community in Sokoto, the renovation of block of 6 classrooms at Utayokhe Primary School in Edo State. On this note, I kindly ask that the phone lines be opened, so we can respond to the questions that you have coming into this call. Thank you.

Are we ready to proceed with questions?

Yes, please go ahead.

[Operator Instructions] Ladipo, at this point in time, it seems like there are no questions on the phone lines. If I could please hand over to you for questions on the webcast.

I have no questions on the webcast at the moment.

Okay. That's fine. It seems like we have a question that just came in from the phone lines. The first question comes from [ Nazor from Business Day ].

Can you hear me?

We can hear you.

Okay. So great, [ soft ] with your results. Congratulations, once again. I would love to know your volume for 2022 -- your volume for 2022. And regarding the contribution, what part of the contribution -- volume contribution came from your Afokpella and Sokoto plants? Could you just -- can you throw light on that?

Okay. Thank you very much, the gentleman from Business Day. Our volumes in 2022, we sold a total of 6,276,907 tons of cement. That is the total for the 2 plants.

[ Nazor ], do you have any further questions?

Yes, I got that. So I was just asking the contribution from Afokpella and Sokoto plants to the 6.3 million tons that was sold this year.

Yes. We only give out the consolidated figures, because it's 1 company. We do not segment by plant.

[Operator Instructions] Ladipo, can I just check with you if there are any questions on the webcast?

Yes, I have a few questions on the webcast. The first question is from Michael Oyeleye from Stanbic Pension. His question goes, "What is the potential impact of increased capacity on pricing?" Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much, Michael. Usually, the impact you will expect when you have increased capacity would be that the consumers will be able to get the product at almost the same as the company price. You know, there is a certain margin that has been added by retailers and in times of insufficiency in supply of the product to the market where the demand far exceeds the supply, you'll find a situation whereby it is the retailers that make a substantial part of the profit at a higher margin. Because these are naturally forces of supply and demand. So what we will expect is that by the time each of the manufacturers bring in volume into the market, there will be relative stability of the end user prices to the advantage of the consumer. And whenever we make any price adjustment, especially a reduction, given favorable conditions, that immediately will have an impact into the market, because of the availability of the product. Thank you, Mike.

Thank you, sir. The next question is from Aminat Ogungbola from Stanbic IBTC. When does management plan to begin expansion into the international markets? What specific countries are being targeted? Thank you.

We are already there. We have been doing export of cement into Niger Republic for quite some time. But of course, like we have always mentioned, Nigeria remains our key priority and -- but whenever we have any surplus capacity, we shall continue with the export. The export has never ceased except for the period when the borders were closed. But I think that was only for about a year between 2019 and 2020, but we have been exporting to Niger Republic. And last year, we experiment -- we experimented with some test [ Obu ] to Burkina Faso. So we intend to pursue this policy aggressively, especially as we are adding new capacity in the plant at Sokoto.

Thank you, sir. The next question is from Adedayo Ayeni from Absa. His question goes, "Congratulations on delivering volume growth above your peers. Is there any view on the state of demand in the market at this time? Is pricing still trending upwards? And given the sharp contraction in EBITDA margins, are we likely going to see another year of sharp price increases?" Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much, Adedayo. The question of demand, I believe the year has started well, not really a strong as it was compared to a year ago in January, February last year. The market was much stronger. But interestingly, when you look at the volume development, you will have seen that the demand had remained flat between 2021 and 2022. All the 3 manufacturers produced and sold almost the same volume into the market, total volume into the market. Of course, there are a little ups and downs among the producers, but basically, I think it was around 29.5 million tons into the market for the last 2 years. So the demand seems to have flattened. If you may recall, we had a big price between 2019 to 2020, and also between 2020 to 2021, despite the COVID. We witnessed almost a year-on-year increase in demand of about 13% -- 12% to 13%, but it has remained somehow flat between 2020 and 2021 and 2022. Definitely, what you felt as sharp prices came as a result of the very astronomical increases in cost of so many products within the last year, the depreciation of Naira and energy plays a very significant role, accounting for a significant portion of our production cost. And definitely, we tried as much as we can not to pass this burden on to our consumers, but why it became necessary, we have to do so. And that is why I think in the last 1 year, you may have witnessed what you will call the sharp prices. But so far coming into 2023, we have not seen huge fluctuations in prices of these major inputs, especially if you take diesel, for example, that is used in most of the trucks. Cement is distributed by cement trailers all over Nigeria. And majority of them use diesel as the major fuel. So the cost of diesel has not increased so far within the last 3, 4, 5 months. It has remained stable. So in that respect, you will not expect us to see passing the cost of higher energy onto the consumers. The Naira also, I think, with exchange rate to the dollar has fairly remained stable between November and now, except for the period in which it sort of jumped astronomically, probably as a result of speculation when the policy of the cashless policy was announced, but I think it has been stable now. So these 2 factors, if they continue to remain stable, I would not expect we are going to see any sharp increase in prices. But like I said, we try as much as possible to absorb any marginal increase during the course of the year. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. The next question is from Wahab Yussuf, NPF Pensions. His question reads, "Just to confirm the conclusion of the line 3 in Obu and line 5 in Sokoto will be completed in the first quarter of 2024. What volume will they add to your production capacity?"

These 2 lines have a capacity of 3 million metric tons per annum each. So by the time they are completed, the total installed capacity of BUA Cement will move from 11 million tons to 17 million tons per annum. That means we'll be adding 6 million tons per annum almost at the same time. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. We have a follow-up question from Michael Oyeleye from Stanbic Pensions. He wants to know the impact of the current cash shortages on the business model, at least at the retail level.

Okay. If I have Mr. Jack Piekarski, the CFO, can you probably take that question?

Sure. Yes, this cash scarcity has -- at the beginning, has not really affected us, but then it started. Most of our sales are cash in advance, so there is no -- these are done by bank transfer. So this is not affecting us. But what is affecting us is at the market level. There are a number of customers, who are just purchasing a few bags of cement in remote marketplaces mostly. So obviously, these kind of purchases are done -- they were done actually with cash payment. Now with this cash scarcity, it happened that the cash disappeared, so they are not able to purchase these few bags of cement. However, this is a small percentage of our sales. Another impact was on the distribution as well, partly when we look at offloading trucks. The off-loaders in remote places are also paid sometimes in cash and they couldn't be paid. So sometimes there were delayed -- delays in offloading trucks, but this is just maybe a day or two, so you are just not having the truck back on time, but apart from this, there was no big impact from that. So overall, yes, we were affected, but not too much, not like FMCG businesses, for example, that is mostly a retail-based, because we are still a B2B business.

The next question is from [ Abdul Rahuf Belu, WF National Services ]. He says, "The 2022 fiscal year was more higher operating costs across the group's expense lines. What is the management's outlook on costs for 2023? And how do you intend to manage it?" Thank you.

Jack, can you also take that, please? Thank you.

Yes. As you know very well, it's very difficult to forecast the -- quite precisely what the cost or inflation will be for the year. Of course, there are trends. There are a lot of studies. One thing that we know is that there will be an inflation. We hope it will be -- it will be lower than last year. So far, it has actually even slightly increased, but let's hope that there will be some stability in the prices. That also depends on the FX availability, obviously. So yes, cost will increase. But in my own opinion, again, I don't think it will be to the extent of last year. It was really -- apart from inflation, but in general, partly energy costs, as we explained before, there was a huge increase like diesel prices have quadrupled from NGN 200 at the beginning of the year to NGN 800 at the end. I don't think this will be happening again. So to me, just to be very general, probably inflation will be what the cost increase will look like in average, and we don't expect anything much bigger than that in general. But there are a lot of parameters, new parameters this year. One is the presidential election. Secondly, is this war that continues in Eastern Europe. And then, yes, the world economy is not doing that great. So we depend on these parameters and sometimes it's difficult really to forecast more precisely than that. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. The next question -- we have a follow-up question from Aminat Ogungbola, Stanbic IBTC. Do you have any guidance for volumes going into 2023?

Well, that actually depends on the -- what market will take. Please don't forget that this is an election year. We also have a change in government coming up in May. So we do not know to which extent this is going to affect consumer choice and demand. But definitely, I believe it shouldn't be anything less than what we have seen. In fact, we are quite optimistic that we will see an increase in 2023 compared to 2022. Because like I mentioned earlier, the 2022 total demand was similar to 2021, but we are optimistic that definitely, this is going to go up during 2023.

The next question is from Akosile Oluwasanmi, Investment One Research. Can you give clarity on year-on-year growth for volumes and pricing? Which of this was more responsible for revenue growth?

Well, definitely, for BUA Cement, I will say, the year-on-year growth on volumes is quite significant. If you look at 2019, before we did the merger, BUA Cement was able to produce and sell 4.5 million tons of cement, and this went up to 5.1 million tons in 2020. And then still went up again to 5.4 million tons in 2021. And last year, it went up to almost 6.3 million tons. So you can see that, I believe, amongst all the cement players in Nigeria, BUA Cement witnessed the highest growth in terms of volumes, like I said. I do not have the specific figures for the prices, but I'll generally say that the prices did not go up much, except within 2022. And this is because of the increase in prices of especially energy products and the exchange rate also, because we have some critical supplies that are indexed to the [ large extent ] of the dollar. If you remember 2 years ago, it was like NGN 405, as of today it's NGN 461, so that's quite a big jump. So definitely, the volume growth for BUA Cement has been more phenomenal. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. We have our next question from Bolaji Balogun, Agusto & Co. His question reads, "May I ask for an update on the royalty increase by the Ministry of Steel and Mines? Is it already been implemented? Any potential adverse impact on costs?"

Yes. Thank you very much. When the royalty was increased by the Federal Ministry of Mines, the cement manufacturers, especially under the umbrella of Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, CMAN, made a collective presentation to the Honorable Minister of Federal Mines -- Ministry of Mines and Steel Development. And definitely, this received a very favorable response and we sort of got reduction in the charges for limestone and gypsum, which are our primary raw materials for cement manufacturing. So that we completely appreciate and it has gone into effect, I think, sometime middle of last year. And it has been implemented, in a nutshell. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. The next question is from Nabila Mohammed, Chapel Hill Denham. Her question reads, "Considering the price increase last year, should we expect more price increase this year considering we are 2 months into 2023?"

Thank you very much, Nabila. I believe I've already addressed that question. It was asked by the previous 2 speakers on the web. Basically, like I mentioned, it is not our desire to increase prices. We only do it when we have no option. And last year, we were faced with so many different choices, but we actually had no option like it was mentioned by Jack, the price of diesel rose up from about NGN 200 a liter to NGN 800. Like I also mentioned, it has remained stable. So in that respect, there may be no need to increase this transport component on our company delivery is meant to customers, but it's something we will look at and review depending on the cost inputs, so that we still try to maintain our own margins. So I cannot really say. The situation in Nigeria is quite dynamic. The currency has been stable recently. The price of energy has been stable. But if there are big jumps, then definitely a substantial part of that will have to be passed on to the customers [ whatever we could hope ] what we are spending on this energy.

The next question is from [ Uwa Sadiyey ]. Congrats on your results. What are the main headwinds for the business this year? And do you think that inflationary pressures are likely to impact on demand yet again?

Thank you very much, Mr. [ Uwa ]. Yes, Nigeria has witnessed substantial inflation within the last 1 year, around 20%. But of course, also the economy is very resilient. As long as there is continued investment in infrastructure, there will be the need and the demand for cement, and we are there to really supply the market. So I'm not really convinced that, yes, demand will be dampened by as such because Nigeria is a developing economy. And definitely, you will see a lot of investments in infrastructure, which will account and substantially the major component there will be cement. So I think the market will -- we are very optimistic it will continue to be good and the demand will grow. Thank you.

The next question is from Olayinka Adesanya, SBG Securities. His question reads, "Congratulations on the performance. Please, I would like to get your view on the market in 2022. Would you say the market is slowing down or largely impacted by energy disruption? Also, what portion of your sales was exports? Has there been any improvement in gas supply in 2023 so far? Can you give percentages of the gas supply in 2022 versus current supply with respect to your requirements? Lastly, what are the sources of funding for the expansion? And should we expect more debt in 2023?"

Thank you very much, Olayinka. Heavily loaded. Let me attempt to answer some of your questions. And at a point, I will also ask Mr. Jack to really come in. Regarding the market in 2022, like I said, own our estimate is it was around 29.5 million tons from all the 3 cement manufacturers and this is the same as we did in 2021. So there hasn't been any significant increase in the market. But like I said, we expect the market to increase during the year 2023. Regarding the export, I'll ask Jack to give that figure, I think he has it on top of his head. We have had challenges with gas supply as most of the manufacturers also. There has been a lot of disruption to the oil wells and oil well facilities, especially the national pipelines. And this has forced a lot of the major oil producers that are producing onshore and also in the [ marginal ] refused to shut off production and this affected the supply of gas to the national gas pipeline. Our factory in Edo, I think, suffered and is still suffering from that. We are not getting enough gas. And partly the reason why we have had to supplement by using LPFO. And also when it comes to supply of LNG to our Sokoto plant, that also was affected. So in a nutshell, the gas requirements to each of the 2 plants was not met by the suppliers in 2022. And even though it has been partly alleviated by some of the measures we have taken, it is not yet whole. We still have some shortfall in supply, but that is not affecting our production because our plants are multi-fuel. They are designed to run on various sources of energy, liquid, solid and gaseous. So definitely, we don't -- we will not have an impact on the production itself because we have alternatives. I'll ask Jack to touch on the sources of funding for the new lines and also the figures for the export to Niger Republic.

The export for last year totaled almost 50,000 tons. That was a continuous increase from the past based also on availability of cement. As far as debt is concerned, as you know, we are financing with that, the -- our expansion of the lines, but this expansion will also generate a certain amount of profit and cash. And with this in the future, if we exclude any future expansion, this should suffice actually to go to cover all our future investment with the cash we will generate. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. The next question is from Mr. Peter Bell, International Cement Review. His question reads, "What percentage of the company's cement sales are now blended cement, Portland-limestone cement compared to OPC? Has BUA Cement any plans for calcined clay cement production?"

Thank you very much, Peter. We produce SM2 with limestone additional SM2 only. And we do not intend to go into calcined additives. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. The next question is from Moses Njuguna, EFG Hermes. He wants to know the -- he wants to get an update on discussions with IFC and syndicated partners?

Okay. Thank you very much. Sometime last year, we made a disclosure on the portal of NGX saying that we are into discussions with IFC, plus some other syndicated lenders, towards obtaining a facility to finance our expansion activities in Sokoto. The discussions have progressed to an advanced stage. And the IFC together with the other syndicated partners like the African Finance Corporation and African Development Bank plus other minor lenders have commenced the process of finalizing this transaction that will go towards financing the lines in Sokoto. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. He has a follow-up question. He wants to know if access to U.S. dollar has eased in 2023 so far?

Unfortunately, the situation didn't get any better.

Thank you, sir. The next question is from Adewale Eniola, Stanbic IBTC. Are there any new product lines you have launched or plan to launch across markets [ NAV ] to sustain the impressive gains from last year? Also with the new incoming government, do you anticipate a new policy that may impact your sector of operation?

Thank you very much, Adewale. Definitely, the sales and marketing department always aligning themselves with the demands and aspirations of the customers. And it may very likely probably, we will launch a new product this year. I cannot say anything more than that. Secondly, regarding the policy of the new administration, I'm yet to see anything towards that with regards to the cement industry in particular. But definitely the Nigerian government has done quite a lot. It introduced the backward integration policy about 20 years ago. And that is what encouraged companies like the 2 local players to come into play and now they're actually the dominant players in Nigeria. And so I'm sure -- I believe that is in policy by the new government. It will not have any adverse effect on the domestic production capacity of the local manufacturers. Suffice to say, the policy introduced by the government that time is what brought us to this level. The level where Nigeria has not become even a net importer of cement. If you recall 20 years back, we were still importing cement into Nigeria, different products. But because of that favorable policy, it encouraged the local producers to set up capacity and expand their production base. And today, Nigeria is not only self-sufficient, but is also exporting both cement and clinker. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. The next question is from Samson Owolabi, ARM Securities. He wants to -- he's asking about price increase. I want to ask about price increase by BUA Cement during 2022. How many times was price increased and can we get a breakdown?

Well, Mr. Samson, yes, like we mentioned in our previous calls and also to [ DES ] and also mentioned in the presentation, we had quite a number of price increases during 2022, partly to reflect the realities of the market because of the increased prices of inputs, especially energy products. I do not have it top of my head, how much was increased and at what time, but I think there have been a number of adjustments. And it was not fully price increase that we had last year. We had basically what was actually a reduction in the bonuses being given to our customers. So it was a sort of a realignment of prices. Of course, that has somehow have had an impact into the market. But I think there were 1 or 2 price increases, so to say. But what we basically did mostly last year, if I can recall, for 2 or 3 times was to adjust the incentive that we give to our dealers. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. The next question is from Wahab Yussuf, NPF Pensions. His question reads, "What is the current float of BUA Cement in the market? And also, is the float likely to go beyond current levels this year?

Mr. Jack, over to you, please.

Regarding the float, this is difficult to say because this is a shareholders' decision. So we are not -- we cannot -- we would not know what will be the decision. And the first question, sorry, could you repeat, Ladipo, please?

The first question, sir, is, what is the current float of BUA Cement in the market? Also, is the float likely to go beyond current levels this year?

The current float is -- was published in the audited financial statement. So we have above 80% that is -- so 20 -- less than 20% is a free float, and we are in compliance with the NGX regulations in this regard. In value, if you want to know the number, it is on Page 7 of the audited financial statements. The free float is NGN 59 billion, rounded.

The next question is from Bayo Adebanjo, Coronation. Congratulations on the results. Speaking to energy costs. What steps are being taken to address gas supply disruption? Also, what is the current energy mix for the kilns in light of alternative energy sources?

Thank you very much, Bayo. Like I mentioned, our plants are multi-fuel. And that means the major pyroprocessing unit called the kiln is designed to run on solid, liquid or gaseous fuels. So we try to balance on whatever is available and at a cheaper cost. So currently, in Obu, we are running on natural gas. And sometimes we add LTFO, which is a liquid fuel. However, our turbines are running entirely on gas, both in Obu and also in Sokoto. Sokoto, we have coal as the main fuel into the kiln. And this has been complemented [ attached ] by LNG, whenever available, also by LPFO, whichever is available. So that is the fuel mix. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. The next question is from Moses Njuguna, EFG Hermes. What's the weighted average time period of pioneer's tax status for your lines, if any? Just for clarity, the industry does not enjoy pioneer status incentive from August 2020. Is that correct?

Not exactly correct. I think the debt you mentioned was the [ sunset ] debt. But pioneer status is applicable for a number of years and probably Mr. Jack, if you can, please, shed some light on this. Thank you.

Yes. Actually, the current pioneer status that companies enjoy normally is 3 years. So for example, we are on our new line in Sokoto, we -- when it was -- after commissioning, we got this pioneer status. This [ date ] that the gentlemen mentioned 2020 is correct. But then in 2021, the President offered an extension of the pioneer status for cement manufacturers. So I'm not sure about other industries. And we had -- in 2022, we had -- there was a deadline for all cement manufacturers to announce or inform the government about the new lines coming up. And those who have done that, they will get the pioneer status. But after that or if it was not declared at that time, there will be no more pioneer status for cement manufacturers' new lines. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. I have no more questions on the webcast. Claudia, do you have any questions on queue?

There are no questions on the phone lines.

Thank you so much. MD?

Okay. Thank you all for being part of this call. And we look forward to you joining us in April for the first quarter review. Have a very good day. Once again, thank you.

Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's conference. Thank you very much for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.