Philippines: Holcim Philippines, part of LafargeHolcim saw a 25% in its first half net profit to US$30.0m due to stiff competition and higher operating costs. In the second quarter its profit fell by about 25% year-on-year to US$16.3m. However, second quarter net sales improved by 18.5% year-on-year to US$189.5m.
"Our second quarter performance showed encouraging trends, which translated into significant sales growth on the back of strong building activity,” said Holcim Philippines’ President John Still. “However, rising costs of fuel, power and distribution combined with the Peso's depreciation against the US Dollar and tighter competition continued to impact our business performance in the second quarter.” Still was optimistic that the second half of 2018 would offer Holcim Philippines the opportunity to recover some of the lost ground, following the improvement between the first and second quarter and the underlying ‘robust building activity’ in the country.
