Holcim 2015 profit up 7%

Leading cement maker Holcim Philippines grew its recurring net profit last year by 7 percent to P5.5 billion as robust nationwide construction activity boosted cement sales to a record volume.

Including non-recurring items, Holcim’s net income rose by 58.4 percent to P8.1 billion.  This was buoyed by a P2.6-billion gain from the revaluation of its investment in an affiliate but tempered by some one-off costs amounting to P677 million, Holcim reported yesterday.

Holcim sees 2016 as potentially another banner year, with a number of big-ticket infrastructure projects underway, company president Eduardo Sahagun told a press briefing yesterday.

The cement industry is expected to grow by 14.3 percent this year, he said. Given the bright industry prospects, Holcim expects to sustain a double-digit growth this year.

Without citing any number, Sahagun said Holcim would not let its leading market share slip.

Last year, the company sold more than 200 million bags of cement (equivalent to 8 million metric tons), of which, some seven million bags were imported from regional affiliates.

He added that initiatives were underway to boost Holcim Philippines’ annual cement production capacity to 10 million tons this year, from eight million in the previous year.

Capital spending this year was set at around P2 billion, similar to last year’s level.

Holcim’s full year 2015 revenue rose by 14.9 percent to P37.5 billion from a year ago on higher sales receipts. Sahagun said the company had also increased operating efficiency.

Sahagun said Holcim had invested in its facilities to achieve greater operating efficiency, apart from drawing from regional strength to meet robust local demand.  The bulk of cement supply imported from regional affiliates came from Vietnam, he said.

“The local cement market has greatly changed due to the sustained investments of the public and private sectors in the past years. Serving the market required us to act differently and we did just that by pushing our plants to new limits and strengthening our logistics operations,” he said.