Displaying items by tag: Results

Vietnam: The state-run Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (VICEM) has announced that it made a pre-tax profit of US$15.9m in the first half of 2012, a 73% year-on-year rise compared to the first half of 2011 and 44% of its whole-year target. Howver, its revenues fell by 1.2% year-on-year to US$682m during the same period.

Vicem reports that it sold 9.71Mt of cement and clinker in the first half of 2012, a 1.4% drop compared to the same period of 2011. Of the total 0.65Mt was exported, a 1.5% increase. Vicem produced 7.45Mt/yr of cement and 7.08Mt/yr of clinker between January and June 2012.

Meanwhile, a city authority has called a halt to the construction of a new cement plant amid continued overcapacity in Vietnam. Kinh Bac City Development Share Holding Corp (KBC) has received approval from authorities from the central province of Nghe An to withdraw from a cement plant project worth of hundreds of millions of US Dollars.

Construction of the Saigon-Tan Ky plant, which was planned to have a designed capacity of 5Mt/yr, was started on 19 May 2010 and it was expected to be developed in two phases. The production capacity for the first phase was projected to be 2500t/day (0.95Mt/yr). Investment for the first phase was proposed at US$71.8m. Local media has reported that the support structures for the three kiln plant have not yet been completed.

Vietnam had around 2.8Mt of cement in inventories by the end of June 2012 but the figure is expected to rise to as much as 6Mt by the end of the year. Local media reports that the overcapacity has been brought about through the 'unplanned construction of cement plants' in recent years.

China: Henan Tongli Cement Co Ltd, a Shenzhen-listed cement producer, said that its first half 2012 net profit rose by 8.6% year-on-year to US$15.2m. Its operating revenue dipped by 2.8% year-on-year to US$308m.

Meanwhile China Tianrui Group Cement Co Ltd, a Henan Province-based clinker and cement producer, said that it booked US$42.7m in net profit in the first five months of 2012, a plunge of 43% year-on-year. Its revenue dipped by nearly 6% year-on-year to US$485m.

Peru: Cementos Lima, Peru's largest cement producer, has posted a second-quarter net income of US$20.3m, down from US$22.2m a year earlier. The company blamed an increase in its costs.

Lima's second-quarter revenue however, was up year-on-year to US$111.7m compared with US$98.0m a year earlier. The company said that its cement production in the quarter was 0.87Mt, an increase of 12.4% compared to that seen in the same quarter of 2011.

Mexico: Mexico's cement giant CEMEX has released its financial results for the second quarter of 2012. These show total consolidated net sales of US$3.9bn during the period, a 1% rise on a like-to-like basis compared to the second quarter of 2011. Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 11% during the quarter to US$702m. On a like-to-like basis operating EBITDA increased by 22% in the same period.

Cemex attributed the increase in consolidated net sales on a like-to-like basis to higher prices in local currency terms in all of its regions. It reported that infrastructure and residential sectors were the main drivers of demand in most of its markets.

Net sales in Cemex's operations in Mexico decreased by 14% in the second quarter of 2012 to US$833m compared with US$968m in the second quarter of 2011. Operating EBITDA decreased by 4% to US$300m versus the same period of 2011. The groups's operations in the US reported net sales of US$795m for the quarter, up by 15% year-on-year. Here its operating EBITDA increased to US$27m, comparing favourably to a loss of US$17m in the same quarter of 2011.

In Northern Europe, net sales for the second quarter of 2012 decreased by 18% to US$1.10bn, compared with US$1.34bn in the second quarter of 2011. Operating EBITDA was US$122m for the quarter, a 19% fall from 2011. Second-quarter net sales in the Mediterranean region were US$384m, 20% lower compared to the US$477m taken during the second quarter of 2011. Operating EBITDA decreased by 23% to US$96m for the quarter compared to the same quarter in 2011.

Cemex's operations in South & Central America and the Caribbean reported net sales of US$529m during the second quarter of 2012, representing an increase of 20% over the same period of 2011. Operating EBITDA increased by 58% to US$189m in the second quarter of 2012 from US$120m in the second quarter of 2011. Operations in Asia reported a 10% increase in net sales year-on-year to US$142m compared to the second quarter of 2011. In this region its operating EBITDA was US$30m, up by 35% from the same period of 2011.

Fernando A González, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration, said, "We are pleased with our 22% growth in operating EBITDA on a like-to-like basis, on back of a 1% growth in consolidated net sales. This is the highest EBITDA generation since the third quarter of 2009 and the fourth consecutive quarter with a year-over-year EBITDA increase. We are particularly pleased with the quarterly performance of our operations in the United States, South & Central America and the Caribbean and Asia regions."

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement has reported a 9.6% rise in quarterly profits, citing the start-up a second production line at its Tahama plant and increased demand from local markets.

Saudi Arabia's biggest cement producer by market value posted a second-quarter net profit of US$69.9m for the quarter ending on 30 June 2012, compared with US$63.7m for the same period in 2011. However profit was down by 7.75% from the first quarter of 2012, when it was US$75.7m. The company attributed this to instruction by the ministry of commerce and industry decreasing the price that t it is able to sell cement at.

Meanwhile, Saudi Cement Co posted a net profit of US$77.4m for the second quarter, a rise of 36% year-on-year. It cited growing domestic demand for cement and clinker. The Saudi construction sector has been boosted over the past year by ramped-up government spending, including a pledge to build a quarter of a million new houses as well as schools and hospitals.

Saudi Cement Co's profit fell by 10.9% compared to the first quarter of 2012, when it was US$86.8m. The company blamed the decrease on a decline in sales.

China: Following on from other Chinese cement producers, which have reported large slumps in their half year profits, Xinjiang Tianshan Cement Co Ltd, based in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, has announced a first half net profit of US$18.9m, a drop of '60-80%' year-on-year.

The company stated that the decline in its half-year net profit is largely due to lower cement selling prices and rising financial expenditure. Other companies have stated that rising costs have included higher fuel prices, although this was not specified by Xinjiang Tianshan.

Meanwhile China's Sichaun Province announced that its cement sector had seen a near-60% plunge in its profitability in the five months to 31 May 2012, despite an 11% improvement in revenue in the entire building materials sector in that Province.

In addition the Hong Kong-listed Taiwan Cement International Holdings Ltd., has also warned that its net profit will decline by an estimated 50% year-on-year in the first half of 2012 due to China's strict macroeconomic controls and shrinking budgets for infrastructure projects.

TCC International reported that its net profit for the first half of 2011 was US$120.23m, although the corresponding figure for the first half of 2012 is likely to have dropped to less than US$60m.

While the slumps in profit have been dramatic, producers believe that they may be short-lived. China's cement market is expected to pick up at the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter of 2012 as the country relaxes its macroeconomic controls, loosens its monetary policy and will give more rapid approval to infrastructure projects.

Update - 13 July 2012: Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement Co Ltd has announced that its first half net profit will plummet by about 80% year-on-year to US$8.5-9.9m.

Saudi Arabia: Yanbu Cement has posted a net profit of US$57.6m for the second quarter of 2012 compared to US$40m for the same period of 2011. This represents a increase of 44% over the US$38.7m made in the previous quarter. The company made a gross profit of US$62.7m in the second quarter, a 48% increase year-on-year.

Over the course of the first half Yanbu's net profit went from US$66.2m in 2011 to US$96m in 2012. Its gross profit for the six months was US$104.8m compared to US$71.7m in 2011, an increase of 46%.

Yanbu said that the the reason for increase in its net profit was an increase in both production and sales, helped by a new cement line and an increase in cement demand.

India: Jammu & Kashmir Cements Limited (JKCL) has reported that it achieved an all time record turnover of US$21.8m in the fiscal year that ended 31 March 2012 compared to US$14.8m achieved in the previous fiscal year. This represents a year-on-year increase of 47%. It announced a bold 2012-2013 turnover target of US$32.5m. The company also announced that it produced 172,300t of clinker and 17,600t of cement during the year. It has targeted 255,000t of clinker and 266,200t of cement in the current fiscal year.

In addition, JKCL announced that its cement grinding and packing unit at Samba, would be put into trial production in November 2012 at a cost of around US$5m.

China: Shares in China Resources Cement Holdings fell by as much as 5% on the Hong Kong stock-exchange today after the cement maker warned of a sharp fall in first-half earnings. Its losses demonstrate that weaknesses in the world's second-largest economy are starting to hit corporate profits. An increasing number of companies are feeling the pinch of a slowdown in consumer demand and the economy as a whole.

China's central bank cut its policy rates in June 2012 for the first time since the onset of the global financial crisis because economic data for April and May 2012 suggested that growth was weakening more than previously thought.

Yesterday, Gansu Qilianshan Cement, a small Shanghai-listed cement producer, forecast that its net profit would decrease by at least 50% year-on-year in the first half of 2012. In the first half of 2011 it made a net profit of US$38.9m.

Australia: Boral, Australia's leading building materials supplier, has downgraded its overall profit forecast for the second time in two months, saying earnings could be as much as US$75.5m lower than it expected in February 2012. The downgrade comes with predictions that the group will announce asset writedowns when it delivers its full-year result in August 2012.

It is now expected that Boral will post a net profit before significant items for the current financial year in the range of US$100-110m. The company has continued to blame the profit downgrades on bad weather and weak conditions in the property and construction market and said that an early maintenance shutdown at Waurn Ponds Cement Works in Victoria was also weighing on earnings.