Kenya’s second biggest cement firm ARM Cement posted a 28 percent rise in pretax profit for the nine months which ended on September 30 boosted by higher sales.

ARM, which lags Bamburi Cement in production capacity, said on Tuesday its profit rose to 1.53 billion

shillings ($17.88 million) buoyed by a 32 percent jump in turnover to 10.2 billion shillings, Reuters reports.

The cement maker forecast a 35 percent growth in earnings this year helped by increased production capacity due to a new plant in Tanzania.

ARM posted a 31 percent jump in pretax profit in 2012 to 1.76 billion shillings.

East African cement consumption is growing thanks to vibrant economies, drawing in foreign firms such as Nigeria’s Dangote Cement, which plans to build a $400 million plant in Kenya.

Construction has been one of Kenya’s fastest growing sectors over the last decade, fuelled by a burgeoning middle class with higher disposable incomes.