Steppe Cement Reports Strong 2025 Results with 21% Volume Growth and USD 30m Expansion Plan

Steppe Cement’s 2025 results are a proper step up from 2024. The big picture is simple: Kazakhstan’s cement market recovered strongly, Steppe sold a lot more cement, pricing improved, and that fed through into better profits, stronger cash generation and a fresh expansion plan.

For retail investors, this matters because Steppe is a cyclical business. When construction demand is weak, margins get squeezed quickly. When the market turns up, as it did in 2025, earnings can improve sharply – and that is exactly what happened here.

Steppe Cement 2025 results show revenue, profit and volumes moving the right way

The headline numbers are clearly better. Revenue rose to USD 101,544,792 from USD 84,923,700, while profit after tax increased to USD 3,317,732 from USD 997,290.

That improvement was driven by both higher volumes and better pricing. Steppe said cement sales volumes rose by 21% to around 2.07 million tonnes, while it held a 14.4% share of the Kazakh cement market. In a recovering market, holding share while lifting volumes that hard is a strong outcome.

Key metric	2025	2024
Revenue	USD 101,544,792	USD 84,923,700
Gross profit	USD 28,260,511	USD 23,357,278
EBITDA	USD 11.8 million	USD 7.5 million
Profit from operations	USD 5,719,136	USD 1,281,948
Profit after tax	USD 3,317,732	USD 997,290
Basic earnings per share	1.51 cents	0.46 cents
Cash and cash equivalents	USD 11,432,961	USD 6,063,506

EBITDA, which is a rough measure of operating profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, improved to USD 11.8 million from USD 7.5 million. That is a useful sign because it shows the core business got stronger before financing and accounting items are layered on top.

Kazakhstan cement demand recovery is the real engine behind Steppe Cement’s growth

The market backdrop did a lot of the heavy lifting here. Steppe said Kazakh cement consumption increased by more than 20% to above 14 million tonnes, while the chairman said market demand rose by 21% during the year.

The drivers were residential construction, infrastructure projects and urbanisation. Official statistics cited in the RNS showed total construction work in Kazakhstan increased by 15.9% to KZT 10.7 trillion, or 6% of GDP. That is a pretty healthy backdrop for a cement producer.

My read is that this is more than a one-quarter bounce. The board points to population growth of more than 200,000 people a year, continued urbanisation and ongoing infrastructure investment. That does not eliminate cyclicality, but it does suggest the demand story has more substance than a short-lived spike.

Steppe Cement’s USD 30 million expansion plan could be the bigger long-term story

The most interesting part of this RNS is not just the 2025 recovery. It is what management wants to do next.

Following operational improvements on Line 6, clinker production rose to 1.63 million tonnes from 1.47 million tonnes. Clinker is the intermediate material used to make cement, so more clinker capacity usually means more cement output potential.

The board has now approved a USD 30 million expansion project to lift clinker production capacity from 3,000 to 4,500 tonnes per day. That is expected to support cement production capacity of about 2.5 million tonnes a year, with completion targeted for summer 2027.

What I like here is that the company is not expanding blindly. Management says the project should reduce coal and electricity consumption per tonne, should not require an increase in fixed expenses, and only needs a small increase in operator numbers for the new raw mill. If that proves right, this could be a classic case of growth plus efficiency, which is where the best returns usually sit.

Cash flow, lower borrowings and dividend potential all matter for AIM investors

Steppe finished the year in better financial shape. Net cash generated from operating activities was USD 13,919,179, up from USD 11,102,900, while cash and cash equivalents rose to USD 11,432,961.

Borrowings also came down. Total group borrowings at year end were USD 2,620,576, down from USD 5,193,019. That gives the company more room to fund expansion without overstretching the balance sheet.

The board said it intends to use cash flow to finance the majority of the expansion, with loans from local banks covering the rest. That looks sensible. A cyclical materials business should be careful with debt, especially when it is committing to a big capital project.

Dividend investors should note one important line: the board is reviewing the balance between capital expenditure and an increased dividend, but no final decision has been made. In plain English, a higher payout is possible, but not yet promised.

There is also some corporate restructuring in the background. The group has already removed two companies from the structure and is considering a holding company in the Astana International Finance Centre, where dividends paid to holding companies are not subject to withholding tax. That is not exciting dinner-party material, but it could matter if Steppe wants to move cash around the group more efficiently in future.

Environmental spending and emission tax could become a sneaky positive

Cement is energy intensive and carbon heavy, so environmental compliance is not optional. Steppe said it has committed USD 5 million over the next two years to complete the transition to bag filters from electrostatic precipitators.

The interesting bit is the potential payback. The company expects that, once a framework agreement with the government is completed, its current emission tax of USD 1.4 million per year could be substantially reduced. If that happens, part of the green spend could come back through lower running costs.

What could go wrong after these strong Steppe Cement final results?

This was a good year, but it is not risk free. The board flagged cost inflation, exchange rate volatility and competitive pressure from imports in southern Kazakhstan as live issues.

There is also execution risk on the expansion. A USD 30 million project is a big commitment for a business of this size, and completion is still more than a year away. If market conditions soften before summer 2027, the timing could become awkward.

One more thing to watch is how much of the 2025 profit improvement came from a friendlier market rather than something permanently structural. The operational progress looks real, but cement companies do not get to ignore the cycle.

My verdict on Steppe Cement’s 2025 RNS and why it matters

I think this is a positive update. Revenue, volumes, EBITDA, profit, cash flow and cash all moved in the right direction, while debt fell and management showed enough confidence to approve a meaningful capacity expansion.

The best part is that the story is fairly easy to follow. Demand improved, the plant ran better, margins recovered, and Steppe now wants to convert that momentum into more capacity and better efficiency. That is a credible industrial growth plan, not just a lucky bounce in one good year.

The main caution is valuation versus delivery, which is always the question with smaller AIM shares. Investors will now want proof that 2025 was the start of a stronger period, not the high-water mark. Still, on the evidence in this RNS, Steppe Cement has given shareholders a much better set of numbers and a clearer route for growth than it had a year ago.

The Annual General Meeting will be held on Friday, 26 June 2026 at 4.00 p.m. (UTC+8) at the company’s Malaysian office in Kuala Lumpur.