Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc. said net income in the first quarter of 2018 dropped 71 percent to P100 million from P350 million year-on-year despite significant improvement in sales volume.
Cemex said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it registered net sales of P5.9 billion, up 10 percent from P5.4 billion in the same period in 2017, as cement volumes increased 16 percent in the first three months of the year.
The company said cement prices also inched up two percent in the first quarter of the year. Cement prices in March were up five percent from the December 2017 level.
“We are very focused on supplying the needs of the market, given the growing Philippine economy and what we believe will be a robust construction sector for many years to come. Our results showed our ability as a company to deliver on the country’s needs,” Cemex president and chief executive Ignacio Mijares said.
“Strong local demand presents both opportunities and challenges for the industry. The execution of our expansion project, and the attainment of greater operational efficiencies will be important for us to continue growing,” Mijares added.
Cemex said cement demand from the residential sector picked up in the first quarter of the year on overseas remittances while demand from industrial and commercial sectors rose on steady expansion of the manufacturing sector and sustained construction of office buildings.
Meanwhile, Cemex’s cost of sales of increased at a faster pace of 24 percent, driven by higher fuel and power costs from a year ago.
Cemex has earmarked P3.7 billion in capital expenditures for 2018 primarily to support the expansion of Solid cement plant and the de-bottlenecking of production lines and supply chain process, which could increase production by 500,000 metric tons annually.
The company said it recently obtained the Environmental Compliance Certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on the $225-million expansion Solid Cement.