Dangote Cement Plc (DANGCEM) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Dangote Cement Plc Full Year 2024 Investor Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to the GMD, Arvind Pathak. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Dangote Cement's Full Year 2024 Results Call. My name is Temilade Aduroja, Head of Investor Relations. On the call today, we have the Group Managing Director, Mr. Arvind Pathak and we also have the group CFO, Dr. Gbenga Fapohunda. There will be a session for Q&A at the end of the presentation. I will now hand over to Mr. Pathak, the Group Managing Director.

Yes. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much for taking the time to join us today. I'm pleased to welcome you to this conference call to discuss Dangote Cement's Financial Results for the Full Year 2024. Let's begin with an overview of our strong geographical presence across Africa as illustrated on Page 2 of our presentation. Dangote Cement continues to solidify its position as Africa's leading cement producer boosting a robust 52 Mtpa capacity across 10 African countries. This comprises 35.3 Mtpa in Nigeria and 16.8 Mtpa across the Rest of the Continent. In 2024, we made significant strengths in advancing our expansion strategy. A key milestone is our upcoming 3 Mtpa grinding unit in Cote d'Ivoire, set to be commissioned in 2025. This expansion will further strengthen our footprint and enable us to capitalize on the high growth potential of the African cement market. I'm excited to share the Carbon Disclosure Project has recently upgraded the Dangote's rating to B Plus in both the climate and water categories. This is an improvement over what we had in last year. This recognition highlights our ongoing commitment to sustainability and environment responsibility. On Page 3, we examined the macroeconomic environment in Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the resilience of the cement market amidst challenges. Sub-Saharan Africa displayed a mixed economic performance in 2024, marked by persistent headwinds, but also areas of significant growth potential. Inflation, although still elevated in many economies, moderated in some quarters, offering some relief to central banks in providing a window for less stringent monetary policies. We supported overall economic growth. According to the IMF, Sub-Saharan African GDP is projected to grow by 4.2% in 2024 (sic) [ 2025 ], up from an estimate of 3.8% in 2024. However, challenges such as currency volatility and sovereign debt concerns remains areas of ongoing attention. A significant economic factor in 2024 was the devaluation of local currencies across the region impacting most of our operations. In addition, the elections in Senegal and South Africa coupled with adverse weather conditions driven by climate change introduced uncertainties slowing down economic activities in certain markets. Despite these obstacles, we remain optimistic about the African cement markets long-term prospect, driven by youthful population and emerging middle class and vast untapped resources. As shown on the same page, we detailed the performance of key operating currencies against the U.S. dollar during this period. Notably, the Ethiopian Birr and Nigerian Naira depreciated by 54.7% and 38.6%, respectively. While Ghanian Cedis lost 19.1% of its value. In response to the potential foreign exchange volatility, Dangote Cement is focusing on enhancing local input material sourcing and increasing the use of alternative fuels. Further, we have intensified the first to mitigate FX exposure by ramping up exports, which will help balance any adverse currency movements. On Page 4, we present an analysis of key domestic macroeconomic indicators, highlighting the pressures stemming from inflationary pressures and currency depreciation. Nigeria saw its headline inflation accelerate to 34.8% year-on-year in December, driven largely by high food prices due to insecurity, Naira devaluation, rising transportation costs linked to successive fuel price hikes and increased electricity tariffs. However, as we move into 2025, there are signs of early recovery. The Naira, which is among the most devaluated currency in the region has slightly strengthened, improving from NGN 1,549 per dollar at the end of 2024 to NGN 1,497.5 per dollar by the end of February '25. This was supported by an increase in external reserves driven by foreign exchange inflows. Additionally, petrol prices are gradually decreasing, benefiting from increased domestic suppliers. On Page 5, we highlight our remarkable performance both financially and operationally in 2024. Financially, group revenue surged by 62.2%, reaching a NGN 3,580.6 billion driven by strong growth in both Nigerian and Pan African markets. Group EBITDA also reached an all-time high, surprising -- surpassing [indiscernible] for the first time totaling NGN 1,382 billion, while profit after tax grew by 10.5%, amounting to NGN 503.2 billion. On the operational front, the group volume rose by 1.6% to 27.7 million tonnes, with a strong 7.9% growth in Nigeria. Our exports from Nigeria saw remarkable increase of 69.1% with 31 shipments of clinker to Ghana and Cameroon reinforcing our position as a key player in the regional cement trade. Sustainability continues to be a core pillar of our strategy. In 2024, we took significant steps by acquiring 1500 CNG powered trucks to replace high-emission diesel vehicles and commissioning 11 out of 17 alternative fuel projects across our operations. These initiatives will not only drive cost efficiency amongst high inflation, but also align our Dangote Way” Sustainability framework, which focuses on 7 strategic pillars. Looking ahead, we aim to expand our CNG fleet to 3,000 trucks in the coming years. Reflecting our solid performance, the Board has proposed a dividend of NGN 30 per share for the 2024 financial year. Page 6 details our performance in the period. Nigerian volumes experienced a strong growth of 7.9% supported by increased promotional activities and improved route-to-market solutions. These activities posted market present of our product and mitigated the adverse effects of higher rainfall and flooding. A major milestone was launch of DMS, which enables customers to independently manage sales transactions and track deliveries remotely. Over 80% [indiscernible] actively use this platform and we aim to increase the adoption to 90%. Conversely, Pan African volumes were relatively flat, impacted by adverse weather conditions, particularly in Tanzania. In addition to pre- and post-election uncertainties in Senegal and South Africa. Collectively, group volumes went up by 1.6% to 27.7 million tonnes in 2024 from 27.2 million tonnes in 2023. Consequently, group revenues and EBITDA were up 62.2% and 56% to NGN 3,580.6 billion and NGN 1,382 billion, respectively. This impressive full year results underscore the resilience of our business in the face of macroeconomic challenges. Page 7 shows the income statement of the group with impressive performance in both the top and bottom lines. Our earnings share -- per share was up 12.3% at NGN 29.7. We also showed trends in cement and clinker exports from Nigeria. Over the last 5 years, export from Nigeria has grown at a compounded annual growth of 36.2%. In 2024, Nigeria export reached historic up 69.1% to 1.2 million tonnes. Our balance sheet on Page 8 remains resilient with a gross cash balance of NGN 449.8 billion and net asset at NGN 2,175.2 billion as at the year-end 2024. On the same page, we showed dividend payment history. Over the last 14 years, Dangote Cement has made a cumulative payment of NGN 2.8 trillion in dividends reinforcing our commitment to rewarding shareholders. Looking at Page 9, we showed an analysis of cash inflows and how we prudently allocated this cash to deliver value to all stakeholders. Net cash of NGN 987.9 billion was generated from operations for 2024. A total of NGN 413.8 billion was spent on CapEx, when NGN 502.6 billion and NGN 174.5 billion were paid as dividends and taxes, respectively. Net debt increased by NGN 1,540.7 billion to NGN 2,511.8 billion as at year ended 2024. Page 10, provides deeper insight into our operations in Nigeria. Sales volume from Nigeria came in stronger at 7.9%, propelled by a combination of factors including improved route-to-market solution, increased marketing and promotion as well as the resumption of construction projects compared to 2023. On the same page, we show the average dollar price of our cement across our operations for the year. The retail average cement price across our countries of operation in 2024 came in at $80 per tonne. Our Nigerian operations cement price was $73 per tonne, which is much lower than the average cement price for the period across all our operations. Page 11 further highlights the performance of our Pan African operations with sales volume down slightly by 1.1% to 11.1 million tonnes owing to a heavier-than-expected rainfall in addition to election uncertainties in Senegal and South Africa. Nonetheless, Pan African revenues were up 60% to NGN 1,481.4 billion, driven largely by improved pricing mix and translational gain. Accordingly, EBITDA rose to NGN 345.3 billion with a margin of 23.2%. We are very pleased with the strong performance achieved in our Pan African operations and note our ongoing capacity expansion in the region would boost volumes and further consolidate its performance. Over the next few pages, from Page 12 to 14, you will see the updates from our Pan African countries operations. Ghana, Zambia, Cameroon and Congo also growth in volume compared to 2023. Meanwhile election uncertainties in Senegal and South Africa impacted sales. In Zambia and Congo, strong volume growth was supported by improved exports to neighboring countries. Now moving on to our debt and liquidity on Page 16. We showed a time line of our equities in debt capital market. As you can see on Page 17, our capital structure remains robust. In addition to maintaining strong credit ratings from global rating agencies, we have sustained a minimum leverage ratio. This has supported our liquidity profile. Now on Page 19 to 22, we highlight the group's export strategy. Dangote Cement has strengthened the exports anchored on our vision to make the region self-sufficient in cement production. This has enabled sufficient FX for our operational needs and optimize Nigeria's current production capacity. We will focus our expansion in West Africa and Central Africa, while optimizing our Eastern African assets. On Page 24 to 28, we continue to emphasize our unwavering commitment to sustainability and governance structured around the 7 pillars of the Dangote Way. Notably, the highlights include our progress in transitioning to the CNG-powered trucks and our commitment to reduce our carbon footprint. On the social front, Dangote Cement invested NGN 13.2 billion in social intervention activities in 2024, a remarkable 459.8% increase compared to the previous year. These initiatives reflect our deep commitment to the communities in which we operate, particularly providing support to our employees amidst inflationary pressures. On the same page, we highlighted activities around our strong corporate governance, and we reviewed and implemented new governance policy in line with the best practices. I would like to express my gratitude to every one of you for joining us today, and I extend my thanks once again to our investors for their ongoing trust and support in our company. Our positive set of 2024 results despite headwinds has once again reinforced the strength and resilience of our business, with significant investment dedicated to improving operational efficiency, I'm confident in our ability to overcome forthcoming challenges and sustained momentum in the remaining 3 months. Thank you once again, and I wish you all the best. Have a great day ahead.

[Operator Instructions] At this time, there are no questions on the conference call. And I would like to hand over to Temilade for any webcast questions.

Okay. The first question on the webcast is from The Africa Report. How has the growing footprint -- Africa Report from [indiscernible] -- how has the growing footprint of Chinese cement makers across Africa affected Dangote's operation? And the second question is what is the company doing to return profitability in its Pan African operations? . So I'll hand over to the CFO.

Okay. Thank you very much. Two questions. One, the first one is the Chinese footprint. We've seen them come into African businesses. And just like any competitor, they want some market share, but we have experience dealing with them. So nothing has been -- we've not seen any negative or any aggressive approach to us that we would consider very, very negative. Then the second part of the question is the return to profitability in our African operations. If you look at 4, 5 years ago, Pan Africa used to contribute over 10%, 15% to the business. This has increased significantly from 10% to 20% to 30%, and it's growing. In Ethiopia, we are maxed out with one of the highest profitability in Cameroon. We are maxed out as well. In Senegal, we are maxed out in the remaining countries, we are growing aggressively. So for us, Pan African operation continues to be a key part of our business, and it continues to be a key driver. As -- at H1, it was about 35%, 40% of our volumes from about 10%. So we believe that Pan Africa operations continue to be very strategic for us.

The next question is from CardinalStone Partners from [indiscernible]. What is the outlook of the company in 2025, particularly volume predictions and any special projects to be done? Should we expect to see cost growth taper in 2025 considering the macroeconomic variables, guidance on CapEx for 2025. The Ministry of Works call for cement companies to ensure retail prices are brought down to NGN 7,000. What is the view on that? And the proposed investment in Ethiopia, what has been said about it? When does the construction start? So there are a number of questions from CardinalStone. I'll just go through it again. The first one is what is the outlook in 2025? Should we expect costs to taper down in 2025? Guidance and CapEx expenditure, discussions around bringing down the prices of cement and the proposed investment in Ethiopia.

Okay. Thank you very much. I'll take the question one by one. The first one is on the outlook of 2025. If you look at the trajectory over the last 15 to 20 years, we've grown at a CAGR of about 8%. Last year, we grew by 2% despite the odds. We expect the outlook for 2025 to be relatively good, not getting to a double-digit growth level as we've had historically. But we expect significant -- we expect some growth within the business. This is based on several factors. One example is what you mentioned. A lot of construction is going on. The cement roads being built by governments. There's a lot of emphasis also on housing development and infrastructure growth and development. So we believe that is going to significantly help the business. The second part is in terms of cost reduction, yes. Dangote Cement, proudly, we have been the lowest cost producer in Nigeria, and will continue to maintain that. I'll give you an example of some of the cost reduction initiatives. We are not seeing cost is going to go down. But in terms of percentage increase, is going to be significantly lower than previous years. I'll give you an example. We just brought in our 1,500 CNG trucks. Aside from the sustainability benefits, it gives me 1 -- it's a 1/3 of the cost of the price of AGO. So that is going to have a significant impact on my cost. There are 2 basic costs that drives cement, power and transportation. Power for [indiscernible], for production and transportation. So for transportation, if I'm reducing that by almost 60%, that's going to be significant. Also for the production process, AF, as we've ramped up significantly on AF, our intend to invest more in AF. In our South African business, we're about 40% and Nigeria about 10%. A lot of investment is going into that. And we expect to see significant reduction in the growth percentage of our costs as it were. In terms of CapEx guidance, we'd always invest, invest, invest in the business. I will take back to 2, 3 years ago, we invested in Ghana. We've invested in Ivory Coast, which will be owned by Q2 of this year. And also, that leads us to your next question about expansion in Ethiopia. So we intend to expand and increase capacity in Utopia significantly. We see that materialize over the next 2 years. Because basically, when you build a factory, you don't build the cement factory in 1 year, you build it over 4 to 5 years. So you will see that materialize next.

Okay. So I'll take a couple of questions together. First, I can tell you from power pensions. I wanted to understand the strategy of DANGCEM will be employing to team the impact of FX positivity. Okay. over the next few years what's the stat on FX volatility. Current selling price of cement in Nigeria. That question is from Cavan Osborne from Old Mutual Invest. We have a question from Moses from Mazi Asset Management. Could you provide an update on the industry landscape in Nigeria and in demand outlook for 2025. FX volatility of current selling prices in Nigeria and industry landscape for Nigeria and the demand outlook.

Okay. So I don't repeat myself. I will just stick to the ones that have not been responded to before. FX volatility in Nigeria, we have a couple of strategies around them. Number one, which is centered around our main business strategy is the import to exports, a lot of exports. I think Temilade mention of significant growth about 60% of -- we've experienced about 60% growth in exports. And that's the implication of that, we have a lot of FX generation into the business. So that helps us meet our FX need. End game is to be FX neutral. We started at about $20 million open position from an FX perspective. We reduced it to $8, reduced it to $7. We're currently below $2. We intend to turn that to 0. So that's one. The second thing is we're focused as well on import substitution. I'll give an example. We used to import coal before, expensive coal into the country. Now we get coal locally as a source of power into our plant. This is about 1/4 of the cost of imported coal for us. And also, the last bit is basically even though FX is fluctuating, the last bit is a cost reduction magnitude. We have a lot of mechanism around cost reduction, which would help reduce the impact on our FX volatility as well.

Okay. Next question from Abidoye [indiscernible] from Stanbic IBTC Pension.

Okay. The current selling price of cement in Nigeria today is about $84 per tonne, in Naira terms about 9,000 a bag, roughly including taxes.

Question from Stanbic IBTC Pension, Abidoye. Do we expect further price increase in 2025? Then from Moses, Mazi Asset Management. What proportion of the revenue growth rate in 2024 is driven by price increase across Nigeria and Pan Africa?

Okay. Yes, I'll answer the 2 together. The first thing is you asked about price increase. I'll take a step out to explain how our pricing is determined. Our pricing is determined by a commission of factors. One is our cost of production; two, economic variables, economic variables like interest rates, like inflation, like disposable income. Another variable is the price the competitors charge for consumption. So there are so many factors that are intertwined that we can't give a valid answer to price increase. But wherever we have opportunities in Pan Africa, we will take advantage of it. That's one. Now what proportion of growth? The second question is what proportion of growth of our revenue is linked to price increase. For us, as a group, we have a very diversified business, extremely diversified. So when you have volume growth in a country like Congo, we have volume growth in a country like Zambia, you could also have other impacts from other countries. So I would say probably about 30%. A big chunk of it as well other another probably 30% or 20% is currency translation. That is converting local currencies in, let's say Zambia or Ethiopian Birr into Naira because Naira is devalued, we ended the year at NGN 951 to dollar. At the close of December 2024, we closed at NGN 1,549, that's over 60% devaluation. Well, because our reporting currency is in Naira, once you convert it, you get currency transmission as well. So just to summarize it, it's a combination of many factors, price increase, volume growth in Nigeria, we experienced about 8% growth in volume. In Congo, we experienced significant growth and also currency translation impact. It's a combination of that, that gives us the benefit of group that we have in revenue.

So could you please remind us of the long-term dividend policy? And what is the target payout for earnings and related to cash flow? This is from Laurium Capital.

Dividend policy and what?

And the target payout related to earnings.

Okay. So I'll take everything together for us. This is our business strategy. Our business strategy is, we run our business, generate good EBITDA, generate good operating cash flow. We invest, invest, invest and invest into the business. Every other thing that we have, we distribute to our shareholders. So we've seen distributions ranging from 90% to 120%, but for us, the core is investing in the business growing, and we can see the growth, both at the revenue, EBITDA and volume levels, even across geographies, we are going into Cote d’Ivoire very soon and some other countries. So for us, that's our strategy as to dividend payout ratio and policy.

So the next question is from Samuel Ojerinde. A few questions here. So if they've been asked, we'll just skip that. What measures are you currently implementing to strengthen the group's resilience against FX shocks? I think we already mentioned that with CNG and to the FX neutral. What are the key factors shaping your expectations sales volumes in Nigeria market for 2025? Look ahead, how would capital investment momentum affect your dividend policy. I think you already spoken about dividend policy. But I think to add to that answer, the long-term dividend policy for cement has always been 80% and above. And I think we've always been at that target. So the next question is from Access ARM Pensions. Given the current stability in Naira in the FX market and possible further appreciation, what is the guidance for price for 2025 and what are your major revenue drivers? From [indiscernible] energy cost keeps increasing despite CNG infrastructure. What is the plan to reduce costs?

Okay. So basically, the first question has been answered previously in terms of the question that was asked. The second part is how do we intend to reduce cost? We partly touched on it but I'll go more into details. So the 2 biggest cost drivers you have in a cement producing company is to fire your kiln, that cement production. The second one is transportation. So what we've done, concerning power as well is, one, we've actually brought in alternative fuel which actually -- it's like using solar process to power your plant. It's like using [indiscernible] supply and this has an impact of significantly reducing the cost. Number 2 is CNG. CNG is compressed natural gas, it's about the price of AGO, which has really, really been helpful for us. Also, we started using local coal 3, 4 years ago, we were importing expensive coal at about $100 per tonne, $80 per ton. As of today, we are using local coal that we are buying less than NGN 30,000, NGN 40,000 per tonne. So those are the key cost drivers. Obviously, they are others like export anonymization and other critical cost reduction initiatives.

The next question is from Jennifer Audu, FBNQuest. Congratulations on your full year numbers. I would like insight on the outlook for the South African market, given the current power issues in the country. What plans are in place to ensure efficient adoption? Secondly, DCP reported FX loss of about NGN 240 billion. What is the outlook on FX volatility in the Pan Africa operation given the Naira has found some form of stability in the domestic? Lastly, DCP's effective tax rates for 2024 was over 30%. What do you see tax rate this year given the current reforms around taxation in the county.

Okay. Thanks for the question. I will take the last question first in terms of effective tax rate. A couple of factors have actually affected our effective tax rate. One, we were in pioneer status, whereby we were not paying tax with some of the companies we have like Okpella. We exited Pioneer status June 2024. For Line 5, we exited Pioneer Status at the beginning of the year, which is first of January 2024. Also, we had similar experiences in Senegal and Zambia. The other part of it is also we had higher profits in the tax, what we call it as accessible profit. we have higher accessible profits in Nigeria and Ethiopia. So these things actually increased our effective tax rate. In terms of FX loss, I mean, we don't -- we really don't have a glass to predict. But if the current momentum continues, we expect a net FX loss of any significant FX loss going forward. Don't forget, we're a diversified company. We are just not operating in Nigeria. We're operating in 9 other countries in Africa. So we expect it to be stable if Nigeria is stable relatively.

What is the state -- this is from Augusto Consulting, Jimmy? What is the state of plants in Gboko today? Fully operational or not? Secondly, other plants, there are plans to build 6 million tonnes inventory while at the same time, Nigeria's current output is around 18 million tonnes per annum.

Okay. I will answer the -- let me start with the easier one, Gboko. Gboko is fully official. But we're looking at how we can increase production from there through so many -- because it serves a certain nature of the market. The way the cement industry work is it's a regional business. So if I produce in the north and I sell in the south, the transport cost is so huge, it takes away all my margins. So it makes it relatively regional. Gboko is strategically placed in a way that it can service certain states around it, and we've been enjoying that advantage over time. That's one. Then two, the second question you asked about the capacity. So I'll answer that question from 4 perspectives. Number one, when you talk about capacity, nameplate capacity is not the same thing as operational capacity. So if my nameplate capacities is, an example, 52 million tonnes, my operational capacity is actually going to be about 85% of it. It's just like having a Ferrari that has 300 miles per hour. You're not expected to drive it 300 miles per hour every day 24/7. So it's about 85% of it that is actually utilized in the industry. Then also our excess capacity is actually tailored towards our export strategy that GMD spoke about. We intend to export from Nigeria to other countries, and we've done significantly well. Between this year and last year, we've increased by about 60% we currently export to Cameroon, export Congo, export to Nigeria, export to Ghana. Also in the midst of all of this, we have full capacity utilization in many entities like Cameroon, fully -- we have full capacity utilization. Ethiopia full capacity utilization and Senegal full capacity utilization, while orders are ramping up towards full capacity utilization. I will just touch on the last part where why we need idle capacity. I'll give you an example, during the COVID era, movement was constrained. When we came out of COVID because we had this excess capacity, we could actually sell significant volumes. And we -- that advantage we had over our competition, it was significant. In fact, that year was one of the years we actually sold most. So it ties into -- in summary, ties into being ready for surprises, our key export strategy, which is the main advantage and the main strategy we are driving towards.

Let's just take a few more questions. Cavan Osborne. What is your target for group EBITDA margin for 2025? Cordros Security, Samuel. Given the decline in sales in Pan Africa, do you anticipate a recovery in sales in 2025? Any contribution expected for Cote d’Ivoire in this year? I think you've answered this question on the cost savings from CNG and alternative fuel as well.

Okay. Thank you, Temilade. So in terms of group EBITDA margin. We expect to maintain the same trajectory plus or minus 1% or 2%. For us, we are more focused on the EBITDA amount and the profit amount. To be frank and open, gone are those days that you expect 60%, 65% EBITDA margin though these are virtually gone. But what we think is sustainable is something around 40% for operators in the market. Obviously, with good initiatives like cost reduction, we can actually do more. The second part of the question is sales in Pan Africa has dropped from our own numbers and from what we see. Our volumes in Pan Africa is actually flat for this year. So we'll talk more about that. For Cote d'Ivoire, what is the expectation? We expect to launch it by Q1. That is the first phase, 1.5 million tonnes. And by the end of the year, Q1 of next year, we expect to launch the second phase, which is another 1.5 million tons for Cote d’Ivoire.

So a few questions from Stanbic, [indiscernible] share buyback program, what is the current status of the program and the current program has expired , so can you just quickly answer that. The next question is from Moses from Mazi Asset Management. What happened to Sierra Leone as its volume have tumbled to 7 Kt in 2024. Please provide color on what's happening in Tanzania in terms of competition as demand slowed due to 2025 being an election year. And I think the last question is Pan African margins fell by 5% where a number of countries under pressure or one specific country?

Okay. Thank you for that. I will start with the last one, which is Pan African country margins. We had challenges in 1 or 2 countries, largely Tanzania and it was an industry theme. We had heavy rainfall, the type we had in Dubai where nobody could go out where infrastructure like roads were destroyed. We had it earlier in the year, but we're out of that. Volume has picked up back to normal in Q4. And we expect in 2025 to, I mean, be at its optimal despite the election year. For one is Tanzania. We've spoken about that. One is Pan Africa margins. And obviously, that affected the margins in Pan Africa, coupled with the huge devaluation. So in July and August, we had over 100% devaluation in Ethiopia currency. And obviously, we're still trying to catch up on pricing. So that affected the margin significantly. But at Q4, we were almost there. So basically, we expect this to get back to normal this year in 2025. The last one is about Sierra Leone. So Sierra Leone, a good business, good fundamental. What we always think about is how to optimize value for our shareholders, how to increase profitability, how to increase shareholders fund. We've gotten -- business ethics. So I'm not going to discuss too much of it. We've got a strategy whereby we can increase profitability, we can increase volume and we can increase market share in Sierra Leone. So you would see that being turned out over the next couple of months. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I think these are all the questions on the call.

We also don't have any questions on the conference call. And I would like to hand over back to Arvind Pathak for any closing comments.

Okay. I'll hand over to the Group CFO, just for closing remarks.

Okay. Thank you, everyone. Thanks for taking time to listen to us, to ask questions, to challenges us to give us your inputs. And we're hopeful to a lot of inputs, please. If you still have additional questions, please reach out to our Group Head of Investor Relations, who will relate to us. And we promise you respond to each and every question you have. Not just questions, areas of improvement because we are always open to grow. We're always open to improve. And we always see every one of our stakeholders and business partners no matter where you stay. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.