Good morning and a very warm welcome to everybody here in person at the beautiful venue in Constantia, and also to those online. I'm very excited to have you all here today. It looks like we've brought some rain relief to Cape Town, which I understand was a lot warmer last week. My name is Debbie Miller, and I'm responsible for investor relations at PPC. On behalf of the management team, I would like to warmly welcome you here today, on the second Capital Markets Day on the Awaken the Giant journey. Certainly, a very exciting time for us. We've come a long way in a very short space of time. Matias, we were talking last night, it wasn't even 18 months ago, the market was asking us, you know, when are we gonna reach 15% EBITDA margin?
I'm sure you saw the announcement this morning, 19.4% for the group, for the 10 months to the end of January. A long path, a lot being done, but certainly a lot more that is possible. This is a straight-talking management team, as you know. I encourage you to remain engaged and open-minded and ask the questions. You know, engage with the team. They're keen to talk about the business, they're keen to talk about the opportunities, and this journey has only just begun. The day is split into two halves. The morning is a little bit more focused on an update. Matias will open the day, talking a little bit about the journey so far, more focused on the operational side.
We'll then have lunch, and in the afternoon, a little bit more strategic focus. Forward-looking capital allocation, strategic projects, and then we'll close the day. We ask that you please hold the questions, write them down, whatever is needed. Hold the questions until the end of the day, and we do have a Q&A session. For those that are online, we will take questions online as well. I won't waste any more time. We've got a lot to cover today. It's over to Matias. I did wanna tell you about the Riebeek site visit tomorrow. For those of you who do need a lift, there is still opportunity for you to join us. We leave from the vineyard, so if you need a lift, please contact me. 7:15 A.M., yeah, meeting at the vineyard.
For the rest, I think the day speaks for itself. Over to Matias.
Thank you, Debbie. Good morning. Thank you for being here. Today is a very special day for us. Of course, your support and your interest in PPC, your ongoing support, because I'm starting to see a lot of familiar faces, which I really appreciate. It's really appreciated. Over the next two days, we will do what we have been doing the past two years. First of all, we will speak plainly and transparently. Secondly, we will share our views and opinions, but views and opinions that they are based on facts and data. In a context where the sector is still, we believe, largely misunderstood and misrepresented, we believe it's necessary to try to continue bringing clarity and guidance to investors. PPC is a 100+ year-old iconic South African company. Icons are not sustainable by history.
They are sustained by leading from the front and by delivering sustainable results. We will talk about what it takes to lead a cement company in the regions we operate. Today is mainly about two things, how we have been rebuilding PPC operationally, and how we have been redefining PPC strategically. From a business that won't look for excuses, a lot of them, some of you probably remember, to one that is focused on quality returns and sustainable value creation. How we have been rebuilding this iconic South African company. I think this slide captures the essence of the PPC journey the past two years, and importantly, where we are heading after building a very strong foundations. When I started this journey, I was deliberately vocal, I'm sure you remember that, and transparent about the industry and about PPC. I know that I made some of you very uncomfortable.
PPC was an iconic South African business, but a business that has been neglected and become distracted in external excuses, wrong fundamentals, and poor management. Financial and operation outcome were disconnected from performance. Accountability was uneven, and decision-making process was not based on data. This open and direct diagnosis was again met with disbelief and mistrust, both internally in the company and externally. What you see in the slide now is how we set out to change, not through slogans, but through execution. Competitive and discipline first. Result and value follow. Rebuilding PPC has required more than superficial changes. It has required how the organization thinks and behaves. We focus on six fundamentals. The first one, and we have talked a lot about that, was changing the organizational culture. That was not optional. The contrary, it was foundational.
We simplify the governance, we clarify the roles, we introduce real talks, and we rebuild business data. This brought and helped to entrench the discipline and the accountability. The third point was to align performance to outcomes because remember that performance was not aligned to outcomes. The reason for the poor results were always external. Was not linked to performance, to PPC performance. Actually, now you can see, I'm sure that you read the results that we published this morning. Performance is what is bringing and improving our returns and our cash generation. Another very critical step was to appoint the right people in the right position. Also, a very sensitive topic in the beginning. We didn't stop just at ExCo. We introduced ExCo to you last year.
Of course, we have an executive team with more than 100 years' experience in cement and definitely best in class. We didn't stop only with ExCo. We reshaped the past year almost completely the second line of management in the organization. We train people, we develop people, we recruited people, and we strengthen our skills from an operational point of view, business point of view with seniority. A few examples about that. Three of our four integrated plant managers in South Africa are new. We have our logistics manager that was recruited, our industrial director, and our national sales manager. We have strengthened our team across the board. This helps to embed a deep business knowledge. Understanding our business is understanding our cost, our technology needs, our logistics and market dynamics at a granular level.
It allows us to compete intelligently and anticipate competitive changes that are coming and not to react to them. It all culminates in making value-driven decisions. Whether it's pricing, capital expenditure, maintenance, growth, and efficiency projects, the lens is always the same. Does this improve competitiveness? Does this generate quality returns? Does this strengthen PPC's long-term position? The outcomes of all this are what you see today. Our commitment to change was not a big promise. I remember in my second result announcement, probably the question coming from some of you that I enjoyed the most was one investor asking me why we should believe you. Because we have heard this from PPC so many times. This was the question I enjoyed the most, to be honest, in these past two years. All that we have done has materialized, delivering results and building the platform for sustainable growth.
This is how we believe from disbelief and mistrust to engagement and momentum. Without doubt internally, and I tend to believe that also externally, this has changed in a positive way. Now we come to the sensitive industry topics. While previous PPC management teams in the past, and some competitors still today, prefer to misrepresent the sector to cover up their own shortfalls. We, since day one, have called things by their real names, no matter whether people were going to like that or not. We have shared real information, and we have shared real analysis. The first thing we said that was that PPC opportunities were internal. That we were able to deliver growth, margin expansion, and returns with the same or even worse external conditions.
We shift the focus from factors that we cannot control to how we run our plants and our logistics, to whom and where we sell, how we price our products, how we allocate capital, and ultimately, how we hold ourselves accountable. Because when two years ago we said that the opportunities were going to come within, we put the pressure on us. We could have chosen easier path, but we knew that we were going to be able to deliver. The second thing was distancing ourselves from cement sector dynamics. When we came to PPC, everything was pretty much about overcapacity. The idea that some weak companies were going to consolidate, and by consolidating they were going to get better.
That a new local entrant was going to be able to fix, a destroyed company in something good in the short term. To the contrary, we said, "Consolidation in the market might happen, but not in the way that was thought." Aging plants, they are not going to be able to compete. Players looking for market share at all costs, we are going to expand on that later on. By dropping prices, they were going to deepen their already very weak financial situation and the sustainability of their business moving forward. That operational efficiencies and people skills are relevant in cement. Two years after we presented this different perspective, and although some conflicted narrative remains in the sector, I believe that the facts speak for themselves. That bring us to the next point, which is investment and technology.
With the changes in the competitive landscape, technology upgrade is no longer optional. The overcapacity as a description of the sector, without differentiating old plants with new one, was always wrong. Business that they are underinvested, they are at risk. While the ones that they are investing are the ones who will remain as the main players in the sector in the years to come. Let's move to the fourth point, that also we are going to expand later on. It's connected to the previous one. Chasing market share by irresponsibly dropping prices is value destructive, period. If you are speaking to a cement company that is telling you that it's gaining market share, you should be very concerned. Volume growth does not earn its cost of capital, destroys value.
Although we continue seeing some players in the market following that strategy, February was quite funny to see what was happening in the market. You know, a cement player that was having serious problem with their operation, looking for clinker in the market, was dropping prices to try to gain some market share. We follow the exactly opposite strategy. Contribution margin focus. Finally, the external challenges are still there. They remain unchanged. As we said since day one, we don't think that they are as important as the previous topics to run a profitable cement company in South Africa. Our strategy is designed to create value despite these headwinds, not to wait for them to disappear or to change. What are really the cement industry fundamentals? Because if you don't understand the fundamentals of the business, first of all, it's impossible to run it efficiently.
In your case, it's very difficult to assess it. I think everything that we have done, humbly speaking, has started with our deep knowledge of the sector and the market. The value in this industry is determined by a small number of fundamentals. Let's start again. Plant age and maintenance cost. Unless you really believe in Copperfield, this is the first and main topic when you see what is happening with the cement company. Technology and investment drive long-term competitiveness. It determines energy efficiency, reliability, carbon emission, production cost. This is why we believe technology investment in PPC was and still is critical, and that is why the RK3 project. Before we came, the SK9 project in Slurry plant.
We are going to talk about this later on, but keep in mind, we are running the two new clinker lines and cement integrated plants in the country in a few months. Cost competitiveness. The fittest always win in cement. How you handle your variable costs, your fixed costs, your G&A costs determine how competitive you are. Yes, then you have to take pricing decisions, but if you don't run your cost properly, you are not in the game. You are not even invited to the game. There is no game if you are not able to handle your costs properly in cement. Comes the footprint. Paulo always mention a phrase that I have problem to remember, but basically, Paulo, it's something like, "Cement does not fly," or, "Cement does not move." We have a very clear, you know, example in our market.
If you follow AfriSam has a nationwide footprint, and you are going to be in Durban, and you are going to find AfriSam probably, and you are going to come to Cape Town, and you are going to find AfriSam, and you're going to move to Botswana, and you're going to find AfriSam. You're going to find AfriSam almost everywhere. Which returns and margins those sales are bringing? Proximity to key markets is critical in cement, and that is where PPC has a huge competitive advantage. Our plants are located close to critical cement consumption centers. As I said, you are not going to be able to compete if you are not able to run your operations efficiently and at a low cost. If you need to run your logistics to expand your footprint far from your plants, game over.
Not because I said it. The fourth one, skills. I would say skills plus business knowledge. I come again. We have been able to brought a ton of experience and seniority to the team. It's a pity because the person responsible for that and who should receive a lot of credit, she was in the room now. Now she's not. Clearly, Nono was the one that we should give a lot of credit because she was the one to be able to bring and to assemble this management team. I want to say that it's rocket science, cement, but also it's not an easy business. It's not a business that you are coming, and you are going to say, "Okay, I will run this business exactly like I run others." Cement is a very specific one.
Again, a very simple product, but a complicated business. We come again, and we are going to come again to margins. This is a capital-intensive business that requires continued investment over a long period of time. This is not a business that can be sustained with low margins. In the short term, can't work. For the past couple of years, there is a new term that was introduced to the sector that we with our decades of experience in cement never heard it in the past. The breakeven. What is breakeven in cement? A breakeven target in cement. We are not a family's pasta shop in a rural area in South Africa. This business require high margins. No one could reinvent the wheel in cement. Finally, to have a strong balance sheet.
Financial strength is an outcome, but also an enabler of the outcome of a cement player. The margins give you a strong balance sheet, but also enables effective capital allocation, including reinvesting and returns to shareholders. Brenda calls it the beautiful circle of life. Probably was a little bit exaggerated, but I think represents well what a strong balance sheet means. Just doing one of them is not enough. You have to do all. The Awaken the Giant strategy by doing all those principles and fundamentals is delivering results. We are becoming more competitive. We are becoming leaders in margins, cash flow generation, and ROIC. Next one. Thank you. Why and how we have redefined PPC strategy. Which are the pillars based on what we build that strategy that is delivering what thought to be impossible?
You know, we still read some comments saying that, "Oh, if the market does not come back or the economy does not improve, the result in cement can be delivered." Wrong. First of all, you need to have the market insight to understand the business. Come again, we built a very experienced and senior team. That now the lady that was responsible of that came back to the room. So a lot of credit to her. Because that was the beginning of everything that came afterwards. You know, PPC has pushed me to appear arrogant, and some people are mentioning that to me, and I don't like it. I need to say that we have a clear understanding of global, regional, and local markets. We understand the competitive dynamics is in Southern Africa region.
We understand the demand dynamics, we understand the pricing elasticity, we understand the logistics importance and competitor positioning. That allows us to anticipate what is happening, not to react. That helps us to make informed decisions about where to invest, where to compete, and where not to compete. The second point is that we spend a lot of time in the first two, three months building the Awaken the Giant strategic plan. We believe that to have a robust and comprehensive strategic plan known by our teams and known by our main shareholders is a very important advantage. It is a clear, integrated strategy. It connects operations, people, capital allocation, and commercial decisions into a single framework with clear priorities, milestones, and above all, accountability. It's not a short-term strategy, but a long-term strategy for value creation. Lastly, execution and results.
I know that a lot of you, when we first engaged a couple of years ago, they were saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." No, this is not going to happen. We have heard this 20 x. You know, we have heard the story of a turnaround in PPC in the past. I understand that, and I understood it at the time. Plans matter, but results matter more. I enjoy coming here and engaging with you. Honestly speaking, I enjoy more delivering the results that we deliver and we inform this morning. We want to be judged on our delivery. Not in how articulated we are. Of course, we say this since day one. People were asking us, "Matias, what the risks are?" The risk always when you have a solid plan is execution.
Because we believe that we are doing very well in these three items. We are confident that the improvements are bringing a structural and sustainable change, even again, in a low growth market. I don't know, Michelle, if the air conditioner is working or it's me, but I mean, looks a little bit. I believe this slide is extremely important. Let's have once for all the real talk about the clinker capacity in South Africa. This image on the slide explain why investment and plant technologies are critical. How PPC is moving ahead of the market on this critical matter. The old assets are less energy efficient, less reliable, and structurally have a higher cost to operate. This is a structural disadvantage. There is no possibility to escape from that. Over time, technology, asset quality, and investment determines who wins the game in cement.
This pie chart shows a very clear breakdown of the age of the installed clinker capacity in South Africa. It shows how PPC compares to the rest of the players in the market. Today, the South African market, excluding PPC, is still dominated by older, less efficient clinker capacity. Let's start from the left. This is the clinker capacity in South Africa without PPC. As you can see, a significant portion of the clinker capacity is old, 60%. Without PPC, you have 41% new or recent capacity. Let's put names. In the 41%, you will find Mamba, Sephaku, and one of the two plants of NPC. On the old plants, you will have the two lines, two AfriSam lines, two Afrimat lines, and one of NPC clinker lines.
Let's go to PPC, what we have today. 60% of our current capacity without RK3 is new or recent. 34% of our capacity in South Africa is old. Try to guess what is the old capacity and which one is the new. The old one are our plants in the Western Cape. The new or recent, the rest of our plants. What is happening in 12 months? PPC will have 100% of our capacity is going to be new or recent. But not only that is extremely important, which I believe it is. Let's go also to the mothball capacity. The rest of the cement companies in the country, they have a 9% extra capacity in case the market improves. PPC nowadays has 35% of our capacity mothball. In 12 months time, that number will grow to 42%.
An important number in that 42. In 12 months' time, that 42 %, 15 % of that 42% percent is going to be new capacity. We will have an extra 15 % capacity in 12 months' time , considering the current demand that is going to come from very efficient capacity. That number today is 6 %. Who might be able to take an advantage if the economy recovers in South Africa? More importantly, which margins are we going to be able to run if the demand improves? Next one, please. Why volume is the wrong game. Paulo will develop this point in the presentation later on, explaining that profitability is not linked to capacity utilization, but more to market and players' behavior.
You know, last year something funny happened to me when we were visiting the RK3 plant and I was talking to some of you, and some of you told me, "You know, Matias, your presentation was nice, but really we want to listen more from Paulo." You will have more Paulo today, yeah. For many years, the cement industry, including PPC narrative, equated success with volume growth and market share. Wrong. Higher utilization and dilution to fixed cost was the assumption for profitability. Old cement paradigm, 20 years old. After 2008 worldwide crisis in cement, that paradigm changed. Apparently in South Africa, a lot of people didn't receive the memo. This is a flawed approach. Cement producers cannot drive the market demand. Pricing discount does not create additional sale volumes. It brings player profitability to a lower base.
What cement players can do and must do is to drive value through cost competitiveness and price discipline. Selling cement at low margins might protect volumes in the short term, but it erodes shareholders' return, erodes ROIC and long-term sustainability. Let me expand on pricing discipline. What is pricing discipline? PPC in the past used to show that the company was pushing the price up as a signal that the company was trying to recover margins. Was partially true. Of course, if tomorrow we start to sell all our cement in the lovely Durban, our prices are going to be higher. But do you think that our margins are going to be better? What is pricing discipline? It's not only the invoice price. You can push easily your invoice price, and then you can put it in the results, in the balance sheet.
It looks like you are pushing price up while at the same time you are destroying your margins. Bottom line is the important thing. A pricing strategy should be a combination between, yes, the invoice or the ex-works price. What commercial channels are you using to sell your cement? What products are you selling? And from which plants are you selling those products? Quality of revenue is what allows cash returns and reinvestment. In summary, we believe value is created at the intersection of pricing discipline and cost competitiveness, not at maximum volume or market share at all costs dropping prices. Well, I hope at this point in time you are all very familiar with this slide because we are bringing it once again and once again. You know the message.
By now I think you know that our clear strategic statement is, our strategy is competitiveness, like we shared with you last year, at our Capital Markets Day. The Awaken the Giant is not a single initiative and it is not a short-term recovery plan. It is a clear, deliberately strategy built to reshape the organization to be structurally competitive for the long term. It is based in an operational turnaround and the incorporation of strategic projects. This couldn't be enough without a reshape of the organization. We needed to integrate the drivers of competitiveness. Which are the drivers of competitiveness? Technology, people, culture. At the center of the rebuild is a very simple idea. Deliver results today while building a platform for sustainable growth tomorrow.
Those two objectives must coexist, and at PPC today, they do. A plan is robust when strategy and execution meets with short and long-term gains, when they are together. The Awaken the Giant was designed to ensure PPC recover from a very long negative cycle, to deliver quality returns, and to build a durable platform for shareholder value creation. Remember that in some of our conversation last year, we shared with you that, you know, when we came to PPC, a lot of people were really happy. I mean, employees were happy, customer were happy, suppliers were happy. Definitely, consultants were very happy. The only people that were not happy were the shareholders. Operational improvements deliver returns today. Capital discipline protects returns tomorrow. High quality investments create long-term shareholder value. This can be really seen in terms of our performance metrics.
The focus on quality returns talk to the operational turnaround, EBITDA margin. These have delivered immediate result in the first and second year of the turnaround. A turnaround only matter if ultimately translates into returns to shareholders. This talk to cash flow generation and improvement of ROIC. Both have shown tangible and consistent improvement these first two years. Finally, the third one talks to all the metrics plus disciplined capital allocation and future earnings. We must invest where projects are clearly value accretive while keeping the capital allocation discipline. We have been doing that. We like to say that execution is where credibility is earned. This is not a fluffy message. It's what we tell our teams every day. Credibility comes from delivery. Over the last 12 month, 22 months, sorry, PPC has delivered tangible improvement in a muted volume-driven market.
This change in EBITDA trend was not a result of an economic supportive context, but a product of execution on a turnaround plan. Looking at the chart that display our group EBITDA history on a like for like group portfolio basis, it shows the journey clearly from a position of decline to a strong recovery. You can see the historical base we had to rebuild from. Consistent and prolonged decline and trend in the organization. From FY 2017 to FY 2023, a drop in EBITDA of 47%. From FY 2024 to FY 2026, six, 10 months, 48% EBITDA growth. The external factors didn't change. I would say that market dynamics are even worse now than two years ago. Some competitors are destroying more value now than the competitors that they were operating in the market two years ago.
This means that the improvement is a result of a structurally better business that is delivering. Michelle, sorry, really. The air condition thing is becoming a problem. This is what we announced this morning. I think all these numbers bring the presentation so far together. Last year, I received a lot of questions of whether there was more to come after a very strong first year of the turnaround. I think these numbers answer, give the answer for themselves. EBITDA is growing, EBITDA margin is growing, and we have been strengthening the quality of our earnings big time.
Debbie, remember, I remember too, my first conversation with some of you two years ago when the target was, and the question was, "One day, PPC will be able to get to a 15% EBITDA margin," because at the time it was 12%. Today we announced that we are at the 19% EBITDA margin level. The full year margin will likely smooth a little bit. We might be a little bit behind the 19%. We have a breakdown in one gearbox in one of our mills in Zimbabwe that is affecting February and March results a little bit. We are starting the shutdown of the plants in our inland region also in March. We can see that margin dropping a little bit, but not significantly.
Free cash flow in South Africa, same story. 10 months at a strong ZAR 438 million. Again, a reduction comparing to last year just because the shutdown of the plants are starting now, so we have some impact in inventory nowadays that is going to be normalized soon. In Zimbabwe, a particularly strong proof point. I know that South Africans have some problems with Zimbabwe businesses. I see things completely differently. On top of a previous year increase, the operational stability improvement resulted in a record cash generation. That in turn allow record dividend of $36 million declared and paid. $36 million paid. ROIC continued to expand. Remember, we started from the 6% ROIC, and nowadays we are near the 13.4% by half year FY 2026. Capital allocation remains tightly governed.
We prioritize quality returns, cash generation, and investment while keeping a solid balance sheet. I will answer this question now so we can speak about other things during the break. There is more to come. Our confidence is grounded in fundamentals, not optimism. We are not particularly a very optimistic management team as personalities, by the way. We have been clear throughout this presentation that the operating environment remains challenging from a market perspective in South Africa, contrary to what is happening in Zimbabwe. In South Africa, competitors with different priorities and pricing discipline remains in place. I don't think for the long term. Our confidence is rooted in our ability to deliver even in this context. We don't have air-conditioning in the hotel? Okay. The austerity goes to no air-conditioning. Sorry for that, everyone. PPC enters our FY 2027 from a position of strength.
The EBIT opportunity is clearly here. We have achieved a step change in the last 22 months. More important, a new step change is coming in FY 2028 with RK3 and continued operational discipline. We have shared the four areas of the turnaround in the past, and we are showing again how all of them are improving. Without getting into details, we can see that progress has been achieved, but much more will be realized. These improvements are planned and being implemented. The effects will impact going forward. Importantly, they are fully internal, so much more is to come. Let's unpack the day and I am exactly on time. These are the topics and of the presentation that each of the ExCo members are going to present during the day.
They are going to be rich in detail and insight, but one thing they all have in common. They form part of the strategy. They are connected, they are consistent. Today is about rebuilding PPC operationally and, as we said, redefining it strategically. These six elements capture our journey. First of all, Ernesto will bring the operations and supply chains update. It is called building muscle because it's not about quick changes and once-off impacts. The changes in operations in cement take time, are made of detailed plans, i mprove CapEx and execution. Defects in re-reliability, output productivity, planning execution will have in the future a compound effect, a beneficial one.
Then, Bheki will present our commercial approach, competitive by design. The shift from chasing volumes and market share to chase contribution margin, quality sales, and choosing the right commercial channels. Ndima will introduce himself to all of you for the first time as the new managing director in Zimbabwe, a core asset with tremendous value to unlock. The morning will be more operational, and in the afternoon, we will have more strategic topics. We will start with Horacio and of course, the RK3 project and other strategic project. Brenda will come with the financial perspective on how we are addressing capital and how this discipline is a base for value creation.
Before my closing, finally, Paulo is going to come, and Paulo will take us through the fundamentals on cement. Very important. Insight on what creates value in our industry. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Matias. It's working? Can you listen? Okay. Good morning, everyone. Thank you again for being with us this morning. I'm Ernesto Acosta , COO of PPC, and as Matias introduced, I will update you all about the operations and supply chain. Let me remember one of the comments that Matias did. This is about training, training, training and building muscle, building muscle. It's not. We cannot expect a step change, although we have some step change to show. But in operations in cement manufacturing, there is no step change. It's strong and sound plans and then execution.
Skills and be consistent with the maintenance routine, with the way that we operate the kilns, with the quality, starting from the quarry to the dispatch. I will unpack three main areas. First one is logistics and procurement, that we can say that we did a step change, especially in logistics. I will unpack those, and you will see some results, some impressive numbers, savings coming from especially logistics, but also from procurement after some tender process, important tender process that we were able to execute during the FY 2026. We will see some good, but still first baby steps improvements in our KPIs. Last year, I introduced four important metrics, how we measure the performance in our plants. I will update about the same four and deliver some concepts and explain further why it's important, those four KPIs.
All of this is based on what we call the performance program and the Plant Performance Improvement Plan, PPIP. Nowadays, it's the bread and butter of all the operations, all the plant, the Plant Performance Improvement Plan, the PPIP. All the teams, all the plant, there is one plan per each plant that is fed back every fiscal year. We already have in place the FY 2027 PPIP for each of our operations. Let me start with safety, because it's one of our core value and unfortunately, we had a devastating news the 5th of November 2025 with a fatality, one fatality in our plant. Hercules plant, to be more precise. I have to say that, it's tough to say this, but it was not a surprise. Because part of the cultural change that we are pushing is related with safety.
It starts with the way that we, as a company, were presenting the results. That's why we introduced a second indicator to measure the performance. Just to be really clear. The upper graph is the indicator that we were presenting before the FY 2025, just the frequency rate, meaning how many accidents, lost time injury accidents, we have in the year. If I were going to just present that one, I will be smiling because we did better than previous year. That's why we introduced it. When we did the assessment of our safety statistics of the last five years, we immediately noticed that the problems were not the number of accidents. The problem was the severity, the consequence of that accident.
That's why we introduced, and it's part of our, the annual evaluation of all our teams, operational team, the severity rate, which measure how long takes the person to recover after the accident. Of course, we aim for the zero accident. We would love to have zero at the bottom, at the top. But the problem in our, in PPC and in general in the cement industry as a heavy industry is the severity of the accident. That's why we introduced the bottom one, and you can see that it's out of scale. Was a problem before, and we did a five-year plan to be world-class by 2030. Was really devastating news, the accident. Just let me briefly comment how the accident was. Of course, there was a thorough investigation. DEL, Department of Employment and Labor, was of course involved.
A very senior and experienced contractor working at the repairing and fixing the roof of one of our warehouse, raw material warehouse in Hercules plant, fell from approximately 25 meters and unfortunately died. Very experienced, highly trained person. He hold the highest qualification in work at height, which is Rope Access Level 3, which requires not just a theoretical exam, but also demonstrate experience at work. He was working installing cell phone towers amongst many other places. Very experienced person that at the time that he fell, unfortunately, was wearing the harness but was not attached to the lifeline. Basically, it's like I am using the jacket, so doesn't make any sense to wear a harness if you are not locked to the lifeline. We did a deep introspection.
We decided to push even further the specific plans that we have for each plant. At the end of the day, we had the real talk with the leadership in each plant. Safety start from the leadership. Each of the person need to play a role and must, of course, do what is required to be done, but it start with the leadership. We measure the performance of the leader by we call a leading indicator, which is the planned job observation. We not force, but we push our leaders to go to the field and see how your teams are working.
This must be reported in our system to make sure and detect the gaps and opportunities and make sure that the number, the times in the month, in the week that you see your team working is registered. We analyze the gaps, and then we have some targeted intervention in the different departments or in the different plants. We made the message very clear. This cannot be repeated. We can accept everything but a fatality. If you compare year-on-year, the FY 2026 compared with the FY 2025, we saw good progress in those leading indicators. We have 3x more planned job observation than the previous year. But still from a very low base. Still a lot of work. Again, it's part of the cultural change that takes time.
Sometimes it's difficult for a 20-, 25-, 30-year-old, 30-year experienced employee to change the way that he's doing things. We made the message very clear. We prefer separate ways than keep employees bypassing and not following non-negotiable safety rules. The plan didn't change. We want to be a world-class organization in those two indicators maximum by 2030, but now we are going to bring close. This is part of the annual evaluation of all of us, starting with me, all the ExCo really, starting with Matias through all the company. Okay. After a tough start, let me move. Four indicators, four KPIs that explain the turnaround in operations. Last year I presented and we gave some guidelines about what we can expect in those four specific targets.
One of them measure the efficiency of our heart, which are the kilns in our integrated plants. It's a heart because must run 24/7. That's why it's like the heart. We measure the clinker production of each kiln. I'm happy to announce that we increased 10% clinker production compared with the previous year. I will unpack that in the next slide I will go to the details because I will present one specific metric that we measure our kiln. Why we choose the kiln, because 70%-80% of our cash cost goes in one ton of clinker. Fixed and variable. Second metric, which also speak about competitiveness, about variable cost, about cost per ton of cement, increase the utilization of extender. Basically, three things is replace clinker by or limestone or fly ash or a slag.
Those are the three extenders that are used in South Africa, but also in Zim. Well, we measure that indicator per plant, per product, not just the bottom line. We gave a guideline between 1.5% and 4% increase of the extender or as I prefer to say reduction in clinker. David told us that is better put in the positive way, so increase the extender, not reduce clinker. Well, we did between 1% and 2% an increase across the board in all the products with a special highlight for Zim. Part of the amazing result, stunning result from Zimbabwe comes from almost a 5% reduction in clinker consumption for the same cement volume. Reduction of coal.
Different percentage, different situations or percentage of weight between Zim and South Africa but always transport inbound coal and electricity represent 70% of your variable cost. Reduction of coal due to improvements in the kiln or due to alternative fuel utilization is always more than welcome. That indicator we did bad during the FY 2026. Basically, we did the opposite. We increased the consumption of coal. Basically, why? Because we couldn't reach the level of alternative fuel in our Western Cape plants. Due to the heavy rains, the availability of fine coal to substitute the dust coal was not available. We couldn't handle with the heavy rain, like a dust, which became a mud when there is heavy rain. We did the other way around. We increased 5% the coal utilization.
The guide or the target is the same. We map the opportunities to reduce between 3%-12%. For FY 2027, that is the target. 10 months we went the other way around. We didn't perform well in that indicator. Finally, be more efficient in and reduce our cost of electricity. We did it. Unfortunately, we didn't reduce the cost of electricity because our friends of Eskom increased more than 12% the tariff. We partially offset that increase with better performance of our mills and kilns that I will unpack in the next slide. Overall, we could cut down that increase 2% by better performance. Also, because Q3 of FY 2026, we switching on the solar plants in Dwaalboom and in Slurry.
Remember that will be presented by Horacio. It brings nice benefits, but in that 2% it's not the full impact. It's just a few months of impact of the solar generation in our two northern region plants. Kiln. Last year we presented this almost the same slide. This is basically a summary what the Plant Performance Improvement Plan means, because again, this is not by chance that the indicators improve. It's not by chance. You can be lucky one month, two months, but in cement, consistency is everything. There is a sound plan behind the improvements in the KPIs and in the kiln performance, which is basically like in many others, continuous improvement cycle. In this case, we divide it in three steps, four steps.
The PDCA we call, and basically we selected, as we explained last year in the Capital Markets Day, 17 KPIs across the full production process. The bulk of them are in the kiln because as I said again, 70% of our cost is up to clinker. If we are able to improve those 12 KPIs, we will make a big difference in our variable cost and especially, and also a fixed cost. We divide it, and we clearly define five categories to measure the performance from the worst, E, to the best, A. We were able executing the PPIP to deliver an improvement of 2.4 percentage point increase, and that explain why we were able to produce more clinker last year, this year compared with the previous year.
Where we are, and we reach, I will give the number. We reach 84% of our OEE with all the kilns. 84%. Some companies are happy with the 70%. We said 84%. Where we are? The OEE is measured, is split basically in two, how we measure. We are in class D. That is where we are with 84%. One kiln, only one, is B. We are running five. Most of them are D and C. Still a lot to go and to improve. If we are able to push all our kilns to class B, not even talking about world-class, which is the A. A is a world-class kiln. We are not even thinking there yet. Just to push slowly to class B, well, we are talking about additional 6% that already, Matias already mentioned.
We have additional capacity to supply the market if the volume and the sales come without even thinking of running a mothball kiln. Just with the current assets, better performance will allow us to increase our production volumes and then supply the market. Let me remember one slide that Matias mentioned, which is the right-hand side pie chart. In FY 2028 in South Africa, we should be running just three kilns, not five. That will bring, due to the change in the technology, additional improvements in our cash cost. I can't see the time. Okay, I think that we're fine. Okay. Logistics. The single biggest cost line in our business between inbound and outbound, by far. Remember that was a function that was fully outsourced. We design it, unfortunately, a phased approach.
When we did the deep dive, we designed a phase approach because even the information was not there. When I was doing the assessment, we met with the ExCo team. I said, "Look, I cannot even assess the logistics function because the information was not there because we didn't have that." Well, that function was outsourced. I'm happy to report or to update that in South Africa, we are working in phase IV, and in Zim we are one step behind. We are still in phase III, but with good progress so far. Ndima will unpack that one. It's really encouraging to see how we were able to progress. Remember in the Capital Markets Day of FY 2025, we reported a 12% reduction in our outbound logistics in rand per tonne per kilometer.
Those are the numbers in the 10-month of this FY. An additional 9% reduction in outbound cost, which allows us to change the footprint and be more competitive in other areas that possibly in the past we were not as competitive as it was required, and an impressive 22% reduction in inbound. How is it possible? Well, two things in inbound. We changed the split between rail and road. We don't control, unfortunately, TFR. The increase on TFR is close to two digits, and you cannot negotiate with them. It's just they communicate the increases. Okay, we have the option to go to road. We are moving the percentage of transport, inbound transport from rail to road. That requires investment, yes. We already changed our Hercules plant to receive clinker by road instead of rail.
We will keep doing that at least while we seek to keep controlling our inbound cost. The most important factor that explained that reduction was a 36% reduction after a tender process that we did in our Western Cape operations for the limestone transport between Riebeek and De Hoek. Now, let me remind you that our De Hoek mine is close to the end of the limestone reserve. One of the plans to extend is in the pipeline before we run RK3, we should be able to prove that our Riebeek plant can deliver enough limestone to feed the future RK3. We decided to anticipate that specific process and start now, and all the limestone from Riebeek be delivered to De Hoek. We increased 4x the transport volume from Riebeek to De Hoek.
With that huge increase in volume, we were able to bring down the rates 36%. It was a new supplier, of course. Now, we did a tender process, and a new supplier was awarded with that tender. Roughly 1 million tonne per year. What is coming in logistics in FY 2027? Basically, we must do the tender process of our northern region. 2.5 million tonnes is what we have to do the tender process. Let's see what is coming. Procurement. Let me start maybe one step, and then I will address the four topics in the slide. Procurement in the past was reporting to each plant manager.
It was decentralized, and each buyer was at the plant, which is right, because the buyer must be close to the internal customers, but reporting to the plant manager. Meaning that there was different ways to do things, we immediately decide, "No, no. All must report to one." Must be at the plant? Yes, no problem. But the reporting is a head of procurement, is not reporting to the plant. It's a separate function. One thing is operations, and another thing is procurement. We separate the function, and we define it clear guidelines about how procurement, which is the number of quote that you must get depending on the amount of money that the tender is. We define and we structure in a different way the procurement team. In June 2025, we did an additional change.
We changed the leadership in procurement. The head of procurement at that time left the company, and we unified logistics and procurement under supply chain. That was the second change. Basically, the new head of supply chain was leading some of the tender processes that were very successful. Like I already mentioned, the 35% reduction in limestone and some other tough negotiations, like for example, with paper bags that usually they increase for a lot of reasons. When it's not the exchange rate, it's the war, it's this, it's that. Always the increases are above inflation. Well, we were able to keep it at 4% aligned with the inflation. Again, more to come.
We are now busy with the tender of the limestone quarry at the Slurry and at Colleen Bawn are the two quarry tenders that we are busy working. One of them is we already received the offer. We are evaluating the offer, and the other will kick off in the second quarter of 2027. Those are important tenders for us because the volumes is we are talking about more than 1 million tonne volume, so any saving there has a multiplier effect because the number of tonnes that we move are a lot at our quarry. Then just an introduction, which is we did a first deep dive in our spare part inventories. Matias mentioned that one of the reason of the reduction in the cash flow in South Africa was the working capital.
Not specifically the spare part, was more related with our production-related item, meaning clinker, cement, coal, and raw materials. A spare part plays a role, an important role, $20 million in Zimbabwe, almost ZAR 400 million in South Africa. We but it depends. We decided to separate from the plant, and it's part of the portfolio of the head of supply chain. The control and the stores is part of the supply chain portfolio. We were able, again, with the first assessment to keep, let's say, flattish, but really was a reduction of 1% of our inventories. During this fiscal year, FY 2027, the idea is work hard in this indicator and review all the maximum stock level, reorder point, and the criteria to create new material codes at our plant.
Of course, we must find the right balance between keeping the necessary spare to make sure that you have available the spares when there is a problem, but at the same time also the financial and making sure that we don't grow our inventories almost every year. If I show you the trends of the last years, you are not going to believe. That is another, let's say, area or action plan that we are busy building for FY 2027. In conclusion, Plant Performance Improvement Plan is a cornerstone of our turnaround process, the Awaken the Giant strategy, and our commitment. I will keep reporting on the four indicators. From time to time, maybe I will introduce a new one, but keep reporting in those four items.
Procurement and logistics are key areas, and we still have opportunities there. I didn't update because the plan keeps the same, but regarding our decarbonization journey, for those who were not present last year, I presented a five-year plan to reduce 22% our CO2 emissions by 2030. That plan is part of the PPIP. The reduction of CO2, our plan to reduce CO2 in PPC is based on four areas: extenders, green energy, coal consumption, and OEE of the kiln, and are the same four that I presented as KPIs in our operational update.
The improvements that we were able to deliver in FY 2026, I want to highlight especially two plants, Colleen Bawn and Dwaalboom, were the two plants that the improvement, the 2.4% improvement in our kiln performance was the average of all our plants. Both of them, Dwaalboom and Colleen Bawn, improved more than 5% each. You will see in Ndima presentation the impact he will show a breakdown of variable costs in Zimbabwe, and almost 20% is imported clinker. Each additional tonne that we are able to produce in Zim by our own kiln plays a huge role. Again, we are in Class B. Still a long way to go for Class B, but we are busy working on that, and we are confident that we can make it. That was me.
I think that now I will hand over to Bheki. Welcome. Thank you very much. That was it.
Thank you. Thank you, Ernesto. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Do I still have the energy? I hope you're still around here. My name is Bheki Mthembu, as it's been said. I'm the Chief Revenue Officer of PPC. Indeed, it's my great pleasure this morning to stand here in front of you and give you some of the exciting news and the rundown of the things that we've done in as far as the commercial space of PPC is concerned in playing our part in this turnaround period that you see in the results. Early on when Matias was talking this morning, he said the market was expecting around 15% EBITDA margin, and we've delivered 19.4%. I thought you were gonna give a big round of applause for that. You've got a chance to do that this morning. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. That was a good icebreaker so that I can get to the business of today. We have a clear commercial framework in PPC. I think Matias touched on that this morning. It's all about contribution margin. Our commercial framework touches on one objective only, which is how can you optimize contribution margin? Because the game plan is not only about volumes. It's all about sustaining profitability and what strengthens our balance sheets and fuels the growth of the business. Our commercial framework is very clear. It talks to or it's anchored by three pillars, which I will unpack just now. Pillar number one talks to data-driven decision making. Garbage in, garbage decisions out, as you would know. It talks to quality of the revenue, and it talks to competitiveness in the markets where we play.
Thank God we are competitive by design, hence my title this morning. All those put together, you'll make and it helps you to realize optimization of the contribution margin. Pillar number one talks to data-driven decision making. Without using accurate data, you'll end up in the wrong direction in terms of your decision. We are happy that in our turnaround we've worked and put a lot of effort to ensure that the information we have is accurate and it's real time, so that we are able then to make the right pricing decisions, correct? Also it helps us to understand when you try and source your products in terms of your product allocation, which plant you're gonna source from.
It helps us to understand because we now have control over the logistics as to the distances and the destinations that you're gonna cover. As Paulo would always say, "Cement cannot travel longer distances." It informs therefore our decision, pillar number one, having data that is accurate and as such you are able to make decisions that are sound. Secondly, quality revenue. When we talk about quality revenue, it talks to the discipline that we have to apply in terms of our pricing, which is all about protecting the value, not chasing volumes. It also talks to how we strengthen our relationship with customers and how we segment customers, meaning understanding the customers. Y ou have customer segmentation in your spaces. Ours will be retail, construction, and industrial.
It also helps us to drive optimal product mix, because it's not always just about price. It's also about the product that you are giving to your customers. In a space where we are playing in the cement industry, some people may say cement is just gray. Cement is not just gray. We are having a various types of cement products which are application specific. Understanding the application and the requirement of your product in the market space, then you are able to have a better engagement with your customer. The third pillar talks about competitiveness in the market space. We believe that we must win sustainably in the markets where we play, and our competitiveness therefore is built on the four things that I will mention. It's built on the consistent service delivery.
When you order your product and you want it to be on your construction site at 8:00 A.M. tomorrow morning because you want to do a pour, it better be there at 8:00 A.M. We talk about product consistency and reliability of supply. When it's got to be 52.5 strength performance for a 45 MPa concrete that you are putting in, it better give you that. When it's done that, it better be available when you want it because you don't want to switch and turn, especially for a construction site that runs over a longer period. One thing that I think I believe we are probably a differentiator against our competitor is the fact that we are able to provide technical expertise which some other players cannot do. We've got the state-of-the-art laboratory in Johannesburg.
We are able to engage the specifiers of key projects at an earlier stage and be able to advise them on what product they need to use for different various conditions in the regions where they play. Price may win you a transaction, but we believe that service and technical expertise wins you long-term partnerships. Matias touched on earlier on about the contribution margin importance in helping us to make right decisions when it comes to allocation of our capital. To help a friend, perhaps somebody is asking, "Why is contribution margin so important? They keep on lashing on it and talking about it. Even Bheki is emphasizing it." There are reasons to it. One of the reasons it's important is you'll try and follow this chain here without boring you. It's important for us in identifying the products and the regions' profitability.
If you have transparency in the contribution margin, you are able to then truly make a sound decision on where you're gonna source a product for a specific region for a specific customer. It therefore helps you to highlight the regions, because remember, when we talk about contribution margin, we are able to map a contribution margin of product per product, a contribution margin of product per plant, a contribution margin of a product per customer, a contribution margin of a product per region. That's how you slice it. You are able to make your sound decision. Secondly, it does a big job in covering your fixed cost. Contribution margin absorbs our fixed cost, especially if you've got a healthy contribution margin.
You are therefore able to make a decision that becomes your added advantage, especially for our business, which is manufacturing heavy. If you are able to play within the economies of scale in a business that is manufacturing heavy, then you are able to take added advantage in that your decision becomes diluted in terms of what is your rand per tonne contribution margin cost of a product at the scale level. The third one is it improves the control at the operations. It's important because it helps drive a higher level of accountability into saying contribution margin, especially when people understand the numbers. Contribution margin is not just the commercial team's thing, 'cause we work it together within the value chain of at the business.
From operations controlling the cost because they understand and appreciate the reason why they have to do that, to a logistics guy that needs to drive the logistics team towards reduced costs of logistics, what you call cost of the logistics rand per tonne per kilometer, to a commercial person that is up there in front of the customer discussing issues of rebates, issues of discounts, issues of prices that are very much critical for contribution margin. It also supports our strategic pricing. This is where contribution margin becomes very powerful, ladies and gentlemen. Our pricing decision is not therefore just an emotional decision with the customer nor what I call the market panic decision that you make because a supplier or your competitor has reduced their prices, then you jump and reduce your prices. No.
Instead of that, it helps us to make informed decisions that protects the shareholder value. Number five talks to it. It guides production and sales decision. This is important because it informs what we produce at the operation site, how we allocate capacity in each of our production lines, which order to prioritize in a given time, in a given season, especially if you are working with a constrained environment in a specific operational site. It's key. The last one, obviously, we've said a lot about it. It helps and is so critical for our capital allocation. Having outlined our commercial framework, as well as spoken about the centricity or the importance of the contribution margin in our day-to-day decision-making, you're probably asking a question as to how do you then execute that? Last year, I shared with you this popular route to market framework.
This route to market framework talks to one thing. At the center of it all, there lies maximization of contribution margin. We said there are what you call the four levers. I call it the four lever execution engine of the commercial team when it comes to maximizing contribution margin. If you sleep on any of these things, chances are you won't come out with maximization of contribution margin. We spoke about diversification and expansion of our customer base. We spoke about optimal sourcing in terms of the various sites that we have. We talked about sales and distribution importance, and we spoke about the product mix. This morning, I just wanna unpack it for you.
Why I want to unpack it for you is to say, what have we done thus far in the turnaround for us to ensure that our route to market framework is indeed effective, and it helps us to realize the maximization of contribution margin. Our route to market is not about pushing more volumes. I'm sure you appreciate that by now because we've said it many a times. It's about pushing the right product to the right customer at the right price through the most efficient channels with the cost discipline embedded in it. If you get that right, then you'll be able to maximize contribution margin. Quickly, I just wanna share with you a sign of the milestone or the road that we've covered in our turnaround on the commercial space. We were very intentional about this.
Lever that talks to diversification and expansion of the customer base was not just theory for us, but we put this into practice in our decisions. Our objective was clear. We wanted to make sure that we increase our direct relationship with our independents. In so doing, we cut off the buying groups, and then we went much more into the independents directly. Hence, the graph will show you last year, that was the percentage of independents in our customer portfolio. It grew up, as you can see. We used to go through buying groups, and then that has been squashed in that amongst buying groups, you would have had a lot of independents that were enlisted thereof. It wasn't intentional. We continue to focus furthermore towards any other initiative that will see us improving our value propositions to our customers.
As such, we look for more independents. The other one is the lever which focuses on optimal sourcing. We've had to work with accurate data. It's easier to change mindset. Once people appreciate and understand the numbers, you are able to therefore work with the mindset. Historically, sourcing decisions across our business, across our networks were made primarily on ex works price. You would source the product from. You'd say, "I'll sell it for you from plant B because it commands a better price for me." Number one. We've changed that mindset because with the ex works, if you split it with accurate data and accurate information, if you are able to understand the variable cost per product per site, we are then able to see what is the actual contribution margin that you are bound to make from each of the operational sites.
You'll see there from a decision where you would have been in plant B sourcing, you then quickly are able to make the right decision by changing the mindset. It comes with the fundamentals of having the right data available. We then change the mindset from sourcing using ex works price to sourcing contribution margin. The third lever. This one talks to the sales and distribution. We are competitive by design. One of our structural competitive advantage, ladies and gentlemen, is the strength and the flexibility that our sales and distribution team has backed up our geographical footprint. In that we are able to use multiple sourcing nodes nationally and provide our customers with high level of supply consistency that I believe none of the competitors in South Africa can replicate. If you're in the Western Cape, you'll find our product.
If you are in Port Elizabeth, you'll find our product. If you are in the North West, you'll find our product. In each and every region of South Africa, you'll find our product where we are most competitive. We will supply it for you. From a revenue perspective, this footprint enables us to achieve two critical advantages. The first advantage is that as a construction company, you are able to say, "When I partner with PPC, I've got security of supply." Because in our industry, reliability wins you contracts.
A guy that is doing a pole in a power plant or a power station in Kuruman, he wants to be sure that when there's power outage in your plant where he's sourcing his product from Ulco, using an example in Kimberley area, you are able, if there is a power outage in Ulco, to source a product from your nearest plant, and he's not gonna fail in doing his project and his pole. With the geographical footprint, therefore, you are able for PPC, we are able to leverage from that. Our distribution base reduces the so-called single point risk of supply, and as such, allows us to guarantee availability of supply to our key account customers, especially a major construction site where there are penalties if you fail to supply.
As such, there is less, therefore, regional disruptions impact that will be felt by our end consumer. It also helps to strengthen relationship, obviously, and it retains the customer, and it makes our pricing resilient. We don't fear to put a price in a construction site because it comes with premium service delivery. It comes with premium supply of product quality that no one can doubt because it is a PPC strength guaranteed product.
Secondly, it also helps us in as far as our route to market efficiencies, in that our proximity to most of, if not all, the construction sites, be it in Gauteng, Western Cape, that you may find or in Limpopo, we are able to be there, perhaps be able to offer a price of a product landed to a customer at a reasonable, or what you call acceptable price because the lead distances makes it able for us to compete on any projects as well as our optimized logistics solution which Ernesto has covered just before me. The fourth one, it talks to product mix. This is one of the most powerful drivers of contribution margin. Margin expansion does not only come from pricing. I've said that. We continue.
We'll continue saying that day after day because that's what we believe, and that's what we've seen giving us the results. You can also get better contribution margin by shifting your product portfolios and your offering to specific customers. You'll see what we've done here. We've just taken an example of a typical retail product portfolio across the whole spectrum of products that we are offering. You'll see that we have more than 52 and the 42. This is what we call the high-end premium products, the high-quality strength products, and that's what we are offering in the retail space. It gets even more concentrated and intense when you're coming into industrial and construction space. We've done this intentionally. Because these are the products that are key in lock, that are key in locking relationship with customers.
'Cause a construction site is not so much sensitive to a mere discount or a price that you're gonna give. You want reliability of supply and strength guarantee in your offering. We've done a lot of those, and there are even more examples that I can offer to you guys. This has been a deliberate mix strategy that helps us not to have leakage when it comes to the value proposition to our shareholders. When I was outside, I had a discussion with one of the investors. He asked me, "How is the infrastructure projects outlook in South Africa?" There's a lot of positivity, there's a lot of commitment by government, there's a lot of excitement that we see. Government has declared ZAR 1 trillion worth of towards infrastructure projects. That excites us over the next three years.
When you unpack it, we've realized that the majority of such project spend is highly intense on key infrastructure that demands cement. It's key infrastructure that demands cement, not just cement, but high-strength cement. If you unpack it, you'll see that there's gonna be about 40% of the ZAR 1 trillion that is going towards road infrastructure. There's about 20% that goes into energy, the wind farms that you see on the right. It's exciting 'cause it's in the Western Cape region. It comes at the time when we are saying we're also gonna revamp our capacity and put in new kit, RK3 project that you're gonna see tomorrow at Riebeek site. It wouldn't have come at any other perfect time. It also talks to the water.
We've got water issue and water supply problem infrastructure that needs to be revamped in South Africa. It talks to that, and this requires concrete pipelines for precast concrete suppliers that requires high-strength cement. We are there to provide that solution. We will be therefore the partner that South Africa requires. It also talks to road infrastructure. There's a lot of projects that are coming in. There's also upgrade projects that the ACSA has put up, which is Airports Company South Africa. They've put up around ZAR 22 billion commitment towards an upgrade on the Cape Town airport. This is just an upgrade. There's also other projects that are coming in which are also linked to the airport infrastructure in the Western Cape.
Currently, it's in the stages of environmental impact assessments, studies, and it is set to be rolled out in 2028 and beyond. It's to the tune of ZAR 20 billion for the airport in the Winelands area. It's opportunities that are waiting for us, and they come in perfect time for our RK3 project that we're gonna commission next year. Opportunities are plenty. Infrastructure projects of this nature wouldn't have come at any other perfect time than the time when we have our capacity ready to supply. As PPC, we are structurally well-positioned with capacity, expertise, and footprint by design to participate in this next phase of infrastructure projects. I hope it answers the question of one of the colleagues earlier on who asked the same question.
In closing, ladies and gentlemen, we are to continue sustaining the top line and ensuring that we maximize the contribution margin. If there's anything that you can capture this morning with regards to what I've spoken about, is this summary of the levers that we're gonna touch on while we ensure sustained top line as the cement producer in South Africa, dominant cement producer in South Africa, leading cement producer in South Africa when it comes to service delivery as well as quality. In so doing, we will make sure that we are competent when it comes to the on-time delivery. We will leverage from our geographical footprint and provide you the product mix that is application-specific and befitting the requirements of your construction site or your building solution at home.
We will use the proper customer channels, and then we'll make sure that we are also integrated in terms of our sales and distribution and interacting with you as our customer and strengthening our relationship with you. Together, these initiatives will form what I describe as the agility and the flexibility that you'll find on a PPC that is out there to offer you more. As it is said, there is more that we're gonna offer as PPC in our turnaround. Watch this space. Thank you. I've reached the end of my presentation. I'll hand you over to my learned colleague, Ndima. I don't know. I'll hand you over to Debbie for now. Thank you.
Thank you. I just wanted to make sure everybody knew what the process was. Ndima will do the next section. It's about half an hour till 12:30 P.M., and then we do have lunch. For the people online as well, we will start again sharply at 1:30 P.M. For the rest of you that are enjoying lunch at this beautiful venue, it is informal sitting. There is some standing cocktail tables as well as some sit-down. Please just make yourself comfortable and mingle with the management team, et cetera. After Ndima is finished, you can just make your way out. Thank you.
It's the green one. It's still the morning. Good morning, everybody. It is my pleasure to be here for the first time, by the way, but it's been a while around with the PPC Group. It is also the first time that we'll be unpacking this business unit, PPC Zimbabwe, a very core asset or part of our business. I will be sharing with you very interesting slides that talk to one, the value that we are extracting from this business, and also the potential that it has. I know that Zimbabwe is, call it, that black box that some people may actually want to pick, but I'm actually gonna be sharing with you what the real numbers are from that business.
The reality is that, Zimbabwe has adopted a multi-currency model, and PPC Zimbabwe is actually a US dollar business. Over 90% of our sales are in US dollar and just cents. We are required to keep some ZiG for government transactions such as paying some of the taxes and ZESA, the utility, the power utility in Zimbabwe. Very, very attractive market, in my view, in the southern region of Africa. PPC Zimbabwe has a high market share in Zimbabwe, around 55%. For us, of course, market share is important but not as important as contribution margin. We have a national footprint, the only cement player in Zimbabwe that has that. That national footprint is made out of three plants. We've got a clinker plant in Colleen Bawn, which is about 180 km from Bulawayo.
We've got a milling plant in Bulawayo, another milling plant in Harare. Those milling plants are strategically located to be closer to the markets that we serve. In terms of the market, I must say that the GDP in Zimbabwe is on a positive side. Yes, the last time we saw a negative call it growth was around COVID, and at that time there was also a drought in the country, and we've actually seen growth in GDP since then, driven by one of the sectors which PPC plays a part in, which is the construction sector. That growth is about close to 30%, and it's really driven by a backlog in infrastructure in the country, be it roads, housing, and so forth.
Of course, the moment you talk about roads and housing, you do talk about cement, and that cement has to be good quality. Actually, when I was going through this, I realized the importance of a leadership tone in a business. Leaders can either break companies or build them. I do not think that there is space for sitting on the fence when it comes to these things. There's a before picture and a now picture, and this picture you will see a lot of these are about putting a foundation that is critical, a foundation that is free of cracks, a foundation that sets us up for success going forward. This business was actually run under what we used to have. We used to have PPC International, and also we used to have PPC South Africa and Botswana.
These business parts of business were actually ran almost independently. In Zimbabwe, obviously, we had the local team there that was not really aligned to what group was doing, and the managing director was actually doing what he thought was right in Zimbabwe. I can tell you, he wouldn't be here today if the board was still existing today. That means I wouldn't be here. I'll be sitting in Zimbabwe just running that business. In terms of key performance KPIs, were not aligned to what the group was actually doing. Of course, in terms of the board, there was a bit of a difference at the time. I can say right now the board in Zimbabwe is inclusive of the group executive members.
We've ticked all these. I must say it's exciting for me to see a true integration of PPC Zimbabwe into this group. This can set up perfectly for more results, good results from that business. You'll see what I'm going to share with you. Some of you probably going to be asking yourselves, "Wow, why did this only come now?" Of course, it's information that you're going to have now and I'm happy to say there's more to come. I must say also that there have been bad habits, corporate habits in Zimbabwe, PPC. Almost factions and all that stuff, which it's something that I have no time for. There's only one faction at PPC, and that's PPC Group.
The moment somebody aligns with a particular leader is actually that person will probably is going to have to give us space, because we just do not have time to entertain factions within this group. Matias had this slide during his presentation. Similar concept to Zimbabwe. Our strategy is to compete and be competitive. There's a lot of things that we have to do internally before we can look outside. Of course, there are things outside that needs to be taken care of, but there's a lot of potential within PPC Zimbabwe that can be unlocked to ensure that we remain competitive in that market. Technology is one of the areas that in Zimbabwe we are looking at. In fact, our main aim there is to optimize what we have.
We have a clinker plant in Colleen Bawn that has a certain rated capacity, and actions that we are taking today, we are looking to actually run just above that rated capacity. Through partnerships, very strategic partnerships with one of the cement players that is well-known and respected in this space. We've signed an operational technical agreement with them, and we are at the assessment stage in ensuring that we get the skills and knowledge that can help us to up the capacity in Colleen Bawn. That is very, very key for us because Colleen Bawn is the only clinker plant that we have in Zimbabwe, and therefore, anything over and above what Colleen Bawn can produce, that means purchased clinker, and you will see when I'm unpacking the variable cost slide, that purchased clinker is one of the big items in there. People.
Extremely important. In fact, integral part of this turnaround. Without people, this cannot happen. Without good leadership, this cannot happen. We need skilled people. I must say, in Zimbabwe, we have a problem that is similar to South Africa, but I think South Africa is in a better space. I'm gonna explain that a bit. Cement skills in Zimbabwe. So there's about eight players at the moment in Zimbabwe. Six of them are Chinese, and two of them is PPC and a local player, Khayah, former Lafarge asset. These. If you look at that market, if I have a position, it's very, very difficult to fill it if I have not developed people within. The whole triple B, it's called triple B, you either buy, you build, or you borrow skills.
In Zimbabwe, you don't go around and pick up skills in the market, because the Chinese players will have their own Chinese people that are there working in there. Khayah, basically they get people from PPC. As a market leader in that market, of course, one of our responsibilities is to make sure that we develop our people, we identify talent, develop them, and of course, some of them will leave, and if they leave for good reasons and for growth, it's good for the industry as a whole. Culture is another one which is quite important for us. It really is about the ways of working. When I started here, I did talk about, you know, the silo mentality that was there. What is key for us is to align with our fundamentals.
Accountability, ensuring that we're not wasteful with the resources that we have. In fact, a lot of non-core expenses on our G&A has been attacked in a hard way, meaning that we've reduced that a lot to make sure that we take care of our cost structure. This slide is one of the slides that is quite interesting. This slide talks about the delivery that we are already seeing, the value that we are already extracting from that business unit. Let's talk about the growing EBITDA. We've seen a 28% growth. This is a 10-month update this year. 28% growth from last year. Here's something that is quite key. The previous year, which was the first year of this turnaround, there was a 29% growth. That 28% is on top of the 29% that we've seen in the previous year.
It tells you about sustaining things, not just do things for a year and you disappear or you disappoint. Of course, this comes with margins that are expanding, and that's very good to see. In terms of cash flow generation, it's really gaining momentum. In the last two years, we have declared dividend of about $49 million. When I say gaining momentum, the next statement, the statement I'm about to share with you will show you how this momentum has been actually seen. Before the two years that I've just shared with you, the 10 years, going back 10 years, it was only $33 million that was declared in dividends. Ladies and gentlemen, if that does not talk to momentum, I don't know what momentum means. The third one, of course, is very, very important also.
This is a debt-free entity. Therefore, you don't have to worry about interest rates and so forth. What this gives us is an opportunity with excess cash, either we continue to declare dividend, or we reinvest some of that money into our assets or into our operations in Zimbabwe. There is definitely more to come here. There are opportunities that are there, and I'm really looking forward to seeing this picture becoming much more better and better every time we come and update you. This is a cost structure in our business in Zimbabwe, and there are opportunities, and I do need to unpack some of these, especially the variable costs. Now, inbound transport, you'll see it's on the high side of things. About 29%, in fact, is the highest.
There's a reason to that and let me explain it. We have a clinker plant in Colleen Bawn, a milling plant situated in Bulawayo. That's 180 km away from the clinker plant. We have one in Harare, which is about 510 km. What that means, you produce clinker. You've got to put that clinker into a train or via rail or road trucks. They move that clinker to these milling plants. Of course, that number is going to be high. Of course, it doesn't help what we're seeing right now in the world from a fuel point of view. Our team is focused on ensuring that we negotiate hard and make sure that we are still able to manage these costs.
Of course, the other one was to also insource the management of logistics, similar to what we've done in PPC South Africa. What I like about this integration is the availability of resources from group to assist the team in Zimbabwe. We have a very competent logistics manager at the group level who's with us in this journey to ensure that we get value out of these activities. The other one is power. Power is not only expensive in Zimbabwe, it's also not reliable. We have a lot of ZESA stops. ZESA is basically the power utility in Zimbabwe. We have a lot of ZESA stops that unfortunately are disrupting. This is a game changer.
We have entered into a PPA with an independent power producer in Zimbabwe, where we will be putting up a solar plant in both of our plants in Colleen Bawn and Bulawayo. We're going to see not only savings on the tariff side of things of about 50%, we're also going to be seeing, because there's gonna be less disruptions in our power, we'll see more clinker being produced in Colleen Bawn because clinker in Zimbabwe is like gold. The more clinker we produce, the better for us. Of course, purchased clinker is another one, and we have to make sure that we look at what we can do to manage the clinker factor in our products. The introduction of slag in our product has seen clinker factor, for one of the products, being reduced by more than 10%.
Of course, what that does, it gives you more clinker to produce more product for yourself and sell in the markets where we operate. The production, of course, of clinker in Colleen Bawn is very, very important, and I did touch on this in terms of the strategic partnerships that we have entered into. It's exciting to see currently, I think, and Ernesto touched on this, how Colleen Bawn has been turning the corner from a clinker production point of view. We've got to make sure that continues because the more clinker we get out of Colleen Bawn, the better our contribution margins, by far. The turnaround is still at the early stages. Some of these here in these pillars, I've already touched on them. I will not dwell much on those that I've already touched on.
If you look at the operations and supply chain, we can never, when it comes to operations, not talk about clinker production. We are seeing improvements in that space, which is fantastic. Sinoma, we are partnering with them. In fact, that partnership, beyond just assisting us to ensure we improve our clinker production, we are tapping into skills and knowledge transfer because we cannot miss that opportunity when we have very senior very skilled personnel working with our teams actually in shifts and so forth. Of course, we have translators that are there managing the whole thing. It's very real. It's a journey that our employees are enjoying. The lesson is more, we actually stopped producing the 22.5 product in Zimbabwe. We used to produce about 60,000 tonnes a year of that product.
We've given it to competition to actually take care of because of the contribution margin that was not that great. Some people may say, "No ways. We cannot move away and let go the 60,000 tonnes." We've done it, and we've gained that from other products that actually have a higher contribution margin, such as SURECEM. We are driving customer collections. What some people refer to self-collects or own collects, meaning you charge them your ex works. They just come and collect the product. In Zimbabwe, there's a lot of our transporters happens to be our customers. I'm pleased to actually say in this area, we've seen a wonderful progress. In the month of February, our own collects actually moved to about 22%, and then in this month of March, we're above 40%.
Of course, the customers are gonna have to take care of their transportation needs and so forth. All we wanna do is to make sure that you get a very, very good experience when you arrive in our plant to collect your product. Because if I give you a VIP or priority service, you're going to come for more and make sure that you come and collect than rely on delivered rates. I did touch on the introduction of slag, which is really doing wonders for us. From a commercial point of view, this has been said a lot. Contribution margin, contribution margin focus. We don't just focus on volumes. If you do that, good luck to you. Pricing discipline is another area for us that we focus on. Margins are quite good in Zimbabwe, and the pricing discipline has to stick.
You can't price your product and go and introduce discounts and so forth and erode that contribution margin. Makes no sense. Of course, in Zimbabwe, there's a huge number of. In fact, we've been driving this a lot. Huge number of our customers are cash customers. Basically, they come and pay, we deliver, or they come and collect. We have few customers, which is, like, big ones that are on credit, and even the terms, they are very, very short in terms of by when they must pay, that. The cost mindset is a big one for us, which is more internal. Looking at our G&A cost, we've done some actual work in that space, ensuring that the non-core costs are taken care of. Of course, looking at retendering some of our major or big contracts.
We don't have such a thing called evergreen contracts at PPC. We've got to make sure we review and ensure we get a fair rate from whoever has got the service. Before I conclude, maybe coming back to this. Over and above this, we are looking at considering investments that will be considered to ensure that we secure and improve the dividend flow to PPC Zimbabwe. Very, very important for us to ensure that the sustainability in the dividend flow to PPC group. In conclusion, opportunities are there, and most of them, they are internal. Our focus is on things that we can control and influence, and that has been working very well so far. There's still more to be unlocked. I really believe in that. I am on the ground there. I can see what is still coming.
It's a wonderful picture that we have. The reality is that we are in a growing cement market, and the cement competitive landscape in Zimbabwe is changing. Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to compete. We will compete in that market. Thank you very much.