(1dollar USD = 549.93 CFA Franc). The profit of the Ivorian Cable Company (Sicable CI, code CABC), a member of the Prysmian Group, world leader in electric cables, increased sharply by FCFA 528.706 million (€ 793,059) at the end of the 2020 financial year compared to the previous year, announced the leaders of this Abidjan-based company. This profit stood at 1.166 billion FCFA against 637.951 million FCFA as of December 31, 2019, an increase of 82.87%. At the BRVM, Sicable CI (CABC), down -3.48% on the March 15 session, is on an annual uptrend of 38%.
Regarding the turnover of the company, it stood at 18.898 billion FCFA against 15.200 billion FCFA in 2019, an increase of 24%. According to company executives, this development took place despite the Covid 19 pandemic and machine failures in the second half of the year. On the cost side, purchases of related materials and supplies increased by CFAF 751 million, standing at CFAF 6.393 billion against CFAF 5.642 billion in 2019. For their part, other purchases increased by CFAF 20.584 million at 699.992 million FCFA. As for the added value, it increased strongly by 57.12%, going from 2.118 billion FCFA in 2019 to 3.328 billion FCFA a year later. Regarding personnel costs, they stood at 1.134 billion FCFA against 1.061 billion FCFA as of December 31, 2019 (+ 6.88%).
The company’s gross operating surplus (EBITDA) increased sharply by 1.137 billion FCFA, standing at 2.194 billion FCFA against 1.057 billion FCFA a year earlier. Following this increase in EBITDA, self-financing capacity improved by CFAF 900 million. As for the operating result, it amounted to CFAF 1.662 billion while it stood at CFAF 884.361 million as of December 31, 2019, an increase of CFAF 777.763 million. As of December 31, 2020, Sicable’s financial debts and similar resources have evolved from CFAF 387 million to CFAF 2.472 billion.
Looking ahead, for the 2021 financial year, the leaders of Sicable argue that this company “will continue to develop its project activity in Côte d’Ivoire and consolidate its positioning in the energy infrastructure sector”. They add that Sicable will try to regain some market share in the Ivory Coast in the construction sector by relying on the quality of its products and a better level of service. On another note, the managers of Sicable intend in particular to orient the export development of their company in the sub-region on niche markets linked to the environment (solar energy, access to water) in collaboration with the Prysmian group. “From an industrial standpoint, the managers of Sicable continue to argue, we will pursue efficiency actions with the support of the Group in order to reduce variable costs”. They also set themselves the ambition of improving machine availability in order to achieve ambitious production volume targets (+ 10%).
