OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH LAFARGE

Ashakacem Plc is a subsidiary of Lafarge S A the world leader in building materials. We became part of the Lafarge group in July 2001 after the acquisition of Blue Circle industries PLC. Since then Lafarge has continued to support our operations to improve performance resulting in better returns to all our stakeholders.

Lafarge S A
Creating in 1833, Lafarge is the World leader in building materials, with top-ranking positions in all of its business: Cement, Aggregates and concrete, Roofing and Gypsum.
In 2006 the group had 71,000 employees in 70 countries. Its worldwide sale for 2006 amounted to 17 billion Euro.
To make advances in the building material, Lafarge places the customer at the heart of its concerns. It offers the construction industry and the general public innovative solutions bringing greater safety, comfort quality to their everyday life and surroundings.
The group has pursued its strategy of strong value creating growth by significantly expanding production capacity and modernizing industrial facilities. Lafarge has invested to cope with the market growth and strengthen its position in its four activities. The capacity expansion program of the group has been moving forward particularly in the Cement and Gypsum to support market growth and has been delivered in 2006.

Lafarge: A step ahead in Innovation
Over the past ten years, Lafarge has introduced key innovations in the Market, particularly in high and ultra high performance products. Lafarge has also fostered close relationships with customers and architects to develop product solutions and systems that genuinely meet the expectations of the industry, professionals whether they seek quality of technological prowess. Lafarge’s central research laboratory is working closely with its needs and aspirations and together with industrial teams to facilitate and accelerate the development of innovations.

Lafarge Committed to Sustainable Development
Lafarge has been committed to a deliberate strategy of sustainable development for may years, pursuing a strategy that combines industrial know-how with performance, value creation, environment protection and the conservation of natural resources and energy. Lafarge is the only company in the construction materials sector to be listed in the 2007 “100 Global Most Sustainable Corporations in the World”.
Aware of its responsibilities towards the society and the enormous challenges facing the construction industry for the future of the planet, Lafarge wants to go future and not takes into account the impact of its products over the course of their life cycle, from their initial manufacture to their end-of-life recycling. The group’s success depends on its capacity to create sustainable value in and around its activities. To better align its actions with these values, Lafarge has established global partnership with NGO’s such as WWF and CARE.

AshakaCem and Lafarge Relationship
AshakaCem values the partnership with Lafarge because of the tremendous benefits we have derived from its corporate programmes such as ADVANCE, Leader for Tomorrow (LFT) and Excellence 2008. Excellence 2008 is about looking for a long term way of knowing, reducing and mastering of our costs and better management of our investments. It is program designed to give Lafarge and its subsidiaries genuine competitive advantage over the long term. Lafarge has provided AshakaCem with the tools and philosophy to understand and improve our performance levels as a company. The past five years of Lafarge’s presence in Nigeria and AshakaCem in particular has shown in practice that we adhere to this commitment and has brought stability to the management of our company.

We must acknowledge the role of Lafarge with regards to its drive for safety, which remains our top priority, and a primary concern for us at AshakaCem. The relationship resulted in improved performance, better results and profitability for the benefit of our shareholders, employee, customers and our communities.

http://www.lafarge.com