Eagle Cement Corp. said the completion of the planned cement plant in Cebu will be delayed to the first half of 2021 from the original target of end 2020 due to permit delays.
Eagle Cement president and chief executive John Paul Ang said in an interview following the annual stockholders’ meeting the cement plant in Malabuyoc, Cebu had experienced delay in securing the Special Use Agreement in Protected Areas permit, which is needed to operate the port.
Ang said delay in getting permits would push back the opening of the cement plant by more than six months. The cement plant, which will have a capacity of 2 million metric tons a year, was originally scheduled to open by the end of 2020.
“Despite the setback, we are confident we will be able to sell cement in Visayas region by end 2020,” Ang said.
“In a highly competitive environment amid rising input and other costs, we believe that our investment distribution and improvements in supply chain efficiency will give Eagle a clear competitive advantage over our peers,” he added.
Eagle recently announced the expansion of its Bulacan plant that would add another 1.5 million MT a year to the company’s total capacity.
Slated for completion by 2020, the expansion of the Bulacan plant will boost Eagle Cement’s capacity to 8.6 million MT from the current P7.1 million MT.
Eagle Cement reported a net income of P1.6 billion in the first quarter of the year, up 49 percent from P1.1 billion recorded in the same period last year.
First-quarter net sales totaled P5.4 billion, up 34 percent from P4 billion in 2018, boosted by the more than 20 percent sales volume growth, coupled by the improvement in the average selling price of cement.
Ang expects Eagle Cement to sell between 5 million to 6 million MT from 4million to 5 million MT in 2018.
Eagle Cement also approved the declaration of cash dividends of P0.26 per common share, or a total cash dividend of P1.3 billion.
The company will pay the dividend out of the unrestricted earnings common stockholders of record as of July 12, 2019 and payable on July 31, 2019.