Zimbabwe-South Africa construction markets are anticipated to continue on a growing trajectory, thereby offering a very robust background for companies like PPC, which are ramping up the competitiveness in order to stand better prospects against the imports. The recent data from the researchers has shown that the South African cement market has reached almost 14 million metric tons in 2024 and is all set to grow steadily in the coming 10 years, with an annual growth rate predicted to be 2.50% between 2025 and 2034. In addition to this, Zimbabwe has also seen a very promising construction sector, with government projects as well as the retail industry along with the residential housing sector providing the much-required impetus. This is benefiting construction sector ancillaries like cement as well as brick manufacturers, among others.
The CEO of PPC, Matias Cardarelli, said that the company was in a way very cautiously optimistic concerning the infrastructure plans under the South Africa’s government of national unity—GNU. He went on to explain that the construction sector happened to be a major driver of the economy by way of job creation as well as other activities.
Cardarelli said that they believe that the administration is very well aware of that and which makes them very optimistic that they are going to see that kind of construction and infrastructure growth taking place in the short term.
As for Zimbabwe, Cardarelli said that the construction market was indeed growing on an annual basis. It is well to be noted that PPC is progressing with a solar power plant in the country.
It is worth noting that the construction companies across Zimbabwe are maintaining a much more robust order book, although they have to cherry-pick certain contracts so as to manage credit risk issues because of the liquidity crunch, especially within the public sector.
For instance, Murray & Roberts Zimbabwe, which is now known as Masimba Holdings, went on to say that its contract order book did remain robust, especially within the roads sector. But a dearth of liquidity within the market has hampered the effective implementation, thereby leading to cash flow issues and also increasing the book of debtors. This has kind of constrained the businesses capacity to invest in ongoing projects and also manage certain functional expenses, thereby causing delays when it comes to their execution.
It is worth noting that PPC has indeed been doing really well in Zimbabwe over the past few years and has raked in the dividends.
As per Cardarelli, the construction market in Zimbabwe has continued to rise at a steady pace and growth.
In a statement, he went on to say that in Zimbabwe, what they are witnessing is also a market that is growing steadily every year, and they are indeed not anticipating any kind of change to that. Apparently, PPC has already recorded an enhancement of 6% in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA)Â when it comes to Zimbabwe. A new solar power plant is also getting developed in the country on an offtake basis so as to help PPC to power up its functions during rolling power outages that are in a way disrupting its productivity.
It is well to be noted that headline earnings per share in PPC for March 2025 grew from $.19, which was a year ago, to $.40 for every share in the comparative period. Interestingly, EBITDA grew 28% to R1.593 billion, with functional free cash flow growing to R1 billion, thereby helping the company to grow ordinary dividends within the period to 17.6 cents as compared to 13.7 cents for every share in the previous comparative period. Zimbabwe-South Africa construction markets have indeed a lot to offer and there is a lot of tangibility that reflects it.
According to Cardarelli, PPC does come with the focus on internal corrections in order to grow its earnings and also unleash the underutilized value for the company. He went on to explain that the company had performed ahead of what it was supposed to be performing for the period under review.
