Ang family-led cement-maker Eagle Cement Corp. booked P1.4 billion in third quarter net profit, matching the bottom line achieved during the same period last year when the coronavirus pandemic had yet to wreak havoc on the economy.
The third quarter profit marked a significant improvement from the meager net profit of P127.94 million seen in the second quarter, when the COVID-19 contagion compelled the government to lock down Metro Manila and other key regions. This also outperformed the P1.32 billion in net profit seen for the entire first semester of 2020.
“The resumption of major infrastructure projects and retail segment boosted sales. We are optimistic that fourth-quarter results will be better as more sectors of the economy are reopened,” Paul Ang, Eagle Cement president, said in a press statement on Tuesday.
This brought Eagle Cement’s nine-month net profit to around P2.72 billion, still down by 42 percent year-on-year, due to the business interruptions that gnawed on first semester earnings.
Eagle Cement shut down its factory in Bulacan last March 18 in compliance with government’s enhanced community quarantine guidelines aimed at containing the spread of coronavirus pandemic. It resumed partial commercial operations in the first week of June.
For the third quarter, net sales declined by 16 percent year-on-year to P4.1 billion. The decline in net sales was less steep than the second-quarter fall of 73 percent. Quarter on quarter, net sales significantly grew by 192 percent.
For the first nine months, Eagle Cement’s net sales amounted to nearly P10 billion, 35 percent lower year-on-year.
As a sign of its optimistic outlook despite the pandemic, Eagle Cement is scheduled to complete by the first quarter of 2021 a new mill in Bulacan with a capacity of 1.5 metric tons and boost total annual cement output to 8.6 million metric tons. This production capacity is expected to support Eagle Cement’s upcoming projects as most construction operations resume by next year. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla INQ