Bestway Cement Limited - the largest cement manufacturer in Pakistan

Bestway Cement Limited is one of the largest companies of Pakistan by market capitalisation, listed on PSX formerly KSE) since 2001.
In 1993 when Bestway Group decided to set up its first cement plant, a Greenfield operation in Hattar, KPK, it faced multiple challenges. Domestic economy was highly inhospitable, characterised by high interest rates, high inflation and low liquidity leading to a general economic and political inertia. Regardless of all preliminary challenges, Bestway Cement completed the project in record time at an initial cost of US $120 million. Hattar plant's initial capacity was 1 million tonnes per annum. In 2002, at a cost of US $20 million, the plant's capacity was enhanced to 1.2 million tonnes per annum to meet the ever increasing demand for quality cement.
Over the years, the Group has successfully exhibited its managerial dynamism and technical excellence in setting up and managing businesses and achieving market dominance through its diversification strategy by investing in the local cement industry and continues to be optimistic about Pakistan.
Bestway Cement prides itself as one of the lowest cost producers in the country. Even during the period of economic slowdown and recession in the country in the late 1990's which adversely affected the profitability of the industry Bestway was able to record pre-tax profits even at 60% capacity utilisation.
In 2004, the company took a strategic decision of expanding and setting up a 1.8 million tonnes per annum plant in Chakwal, Punjab. This was Bestway's second Greenfield project at a cost of US $140 million. To this day, the plant still holds the record for the fastest transformation from Greenfield development to completion in the country.
In 2005, Bestway Cement acquired its third cement plant, Mustehkam Cement for US $70m following an offering by the Privatisation Commission, Government of Pakistan. This plant had an installed capacity of 0.66 million tonnes per annum and had been shut since 1999. The plant was put into operation soon afterwards with a herculean effort by Bestway's team. Mustehkam's capacity was later enhanced to over 1.2 million tonnes per annum with an investment of US $64.7 million.
Bestway then proceeded to set up its fourth cement plant in Chakwal with a capacity of 1.8 million tonnes per annum at a cost of US $180 million. The plant commenced commercial production in 2008.
With its acquisition of Pakcem Limited (formerly Lafarge Pakistan) in April 2015 for an enterprise value of US $329 million, Bestway now represents 18% of the entire industry's capacity and boasts a total production capacity of more than 8.1 million tonnes per annum.
Today Bestway has emerged as the largest cement manufacturer in Pakistan with state-of-the-art plants in Punjab and KPK. With 18 cement companies and 24 cement plants, 59% of the national market is dominated by four players. Bestway Cement has worked its way up from modest beginnings to becoming the market leader and one of the lowest cost producers in a highly competitive industry in less than two decades.
During the financial year of 2015, the company exhibited a sound financial performance, recording consolidated sales of Rs 41.5 billion and net turnover of Rs 32.7 billion. Gross profit stood at Rs 13.3 billion while profit before tax was Rs 12.9 billion. Profit after taxation for the year amounted to Rs 10.1 billion.
Bestway Cement is one of the largest tax payers in the country, having contributed Rs 32.1 billion to the exchequer in the last five years alone.
Bestway Cement is driven by high standards of efficiency and quality. The Company's ambition is to offer innovative solutions to address market needs. Bestway's innovative product portfolio of cement and building materials, which includes Ordinary Portland Cement, High Early Strength Cement (Stallion), Sulphate Resistant Cement (SRC), innovative tile bond (Xtreme Bond) and grout (Xtreme Grout) contribute to building on strength across Pakistan, creating a change in construction standards, aesthetics and services in the local industry. Today, the efficient practices started by Bestway Cement are being emulated even by its competitors.
The successful introduction of its brands in Afghanistan, India, Middle-East, Africa and Central Asia has made Bestway one of Pakistan's largest cement exporters. Despite fierce competition, Bestway has been the single largest exporter of cement to Afghanistan and India, and a lead exporter to various other countries for the past many years.
The company's leadership is not just limited to manufacturing. Only recently, it has branched out to promote research and development of building and construction solutions that will add value for its customers.
Bestway Cement is as economic as possible with energy and limits the emissions of potentially hazardous substances to a minimum. As an emitter of greenhouse gases, Bestway is aware and accepts its responsibility to minimise and offset these emissions through its actions. Wellbeing of the social environment in which Bestway operates in is considered an integral part of its success. Bestway plants are ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System (EMS) certified. Its plants not only meet the stringent environmental quality standards prescribed by the Environment Protection Authority of Pakistan, they even surpass the national and international standards for emissions. Bestway's emission levels are below 50 microns, whereas the Government of Pakistan's acceptable standards are 300 microns and international standards are 50 microns per cubic meter of air at NTP."
In the last five years, Bestway planted nearly 500,000 trees and plants in and around its cement plants as part of various environment conservation campaigns. Bestway has been a regular recipient of numerous environmental excellence awards for its positive contributions to sustainable development.
Bestway's efforts are dedicated towards achieving more efficient and environmentally-friendly production methods. After pioneering the use of waste heat in 2011 with a 15MW plant in Chakwal, Bestway Cement installed two 13.5MW environmentally-friendly waste heat recovery power plants at Hattar and Farooqia operations during 2015, and another 12MW is currently underway at Pakcem, Kallar Kahar plant. The project is at the outset and is expected to be fully operational in February 2017.
These power plants have not only reduced Bestway's reliance on national grid, but also helped in alleviating the country's power crisis to a certain extent and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum.
Bestway Cement is a Company driven by quality consciousness and efficiency. At Bestway, quality is assured through systematic and effective adoption, implementation, monitoring and continuous enhancement of quality control systems using latest methods of analyses. All stages of the production process right from the selection of raw materials, processing of materials and the finished product are subjected to rigorous testing to ensure that each bag of cement is of the highest quality.
The cement produced by Bestway conforms to the product specification defined under Pakistani, Indian, British, European and American Standards.
The world is rapidly expanding; sociologists foresee by 2050, 70% of the world population living in cities. As we witness urbanisation rapidly spread and cities develop and expand in Pakistan, Bestway Cement is committed to building on strength across the country by improving lives for local communities, safeguarding the environment, contributing to the country's economic growth and providing superior returns for its shareholders.