Cement firms post lower earnings in Q3

MANILA, Philippines — Two cement companies reported a decline in their third quarter and nine month earnings, citing lower volumes.

Holcim Philippines posted a net income of P337.1 million in the third quarter, down 423 percent from P1.76 billion a year ago.

This brought nine-month income to P2.3 billion, 136.6 percent lower than the previous year.

Cemex Holdings Philippines, meanwhile, reported a 79 percent drop in its third quarter profit to P202 million while its nine-month earnings dipped 63 percent to P688 million.

The decrease in Cemex’s earnings was due to lower prices and volumes owing to tight competition.

Meanwhile, Holcim’s net sales declined to P8.26 billion from P10 billion a year ago and to P25.7 billion during the nine month period from P31 billion in 2016.

The company attributed its latest performance to tighter competition and higher production expenses.

“We remain steadfast in our support for Philippine growth and in the many opportunities in the market. We note the government’s recent report that infrastructure spending has started to pick up. To this end, the transformation of our company continues in order to better serve our customers and support the development of the country,” said Sapna Sood, president and CEO of Holcim Philippines.

Moving forward, the company is strengthening its cost management efforts through logistics excellence, renegotiation of energy and procurement contracts to improve variable costs, and fixed cost management.

Furthermore, Holcim continues to ramp up its support for Mindanao with its P2.7 billion project expansion in Davao with the groundbreaking of its facilities in October. This will bring  Holcim’s cement production capacity in the city to 2.2 million metric tons.