By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Cement producer, Lafarge Africa Plc  said on Friday it expects to generate cost saving synergies of N9 billion ($46 million) over the next three (3) years in Nigeria, following its parent company  merger  with Holcim in a plan to create the world’s biggest cement maker, a Reuters report quoted the company as saying.

“We should be able to achieve around 10 percent (savings) this year, the remaining is split to around 33 percent for next year, 33 percent in 2017 and the remaining by the first half of 2018,” the report quoted Anders Kristiansson chief finance officer (CFO) of Lafarge Africa affirmed in an analysts call, estimating 2015 savings at between N700 million to N900 million naira.

Pretax profit for the 9-month period ended September 2015 dipped 12 percent to N33.67 billion from N38.09 billion recorded a year earlier.

In the same vein, profit after tax (PAT) declined seven (7) percent to N29.55 billion from N31.75 billion posted in the same period of 2014.

Revenue inched up from N159.4 billion to N168.14 billion in the 9-momth period of 2015, showing a five (5) percent growth, the cement maker said in filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).