Holcim Philippines reports Q2 2018 performance

• The Company experienced strong sales due to robust building activity nationwide, but cost pressures and competition continued to impact performance.
• Cost efficiency remains top priority as the Company continues its expansion and prepares for growth.

John Stull, President and CEO of Holcim Philippines, Inc. said: “Our Q2 performance showed encouraging trends which translated into significant sales growth on the back of strong building activity. However, rising costs of fuel, power and distribution combined with the peso’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar and tighter competition continued to impact our business performance in the second quarter.

“Still, there are many opportunities for our business given the robust building activity throughout the country, and this is seen in our substantial sales growth in the second quarter. We remain focused on further improving operational efficiencies and rigorously managing our costs while expanding our business.  This is essential to achieving profitable growth allowing us to strengthen our ability to support the country’s development.”

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Despite lower cement prices caused by intense competition, the Company’s second quarter net sales improved by 18.5% to Php10.1 billion from Php8.6 billion in same period last year. The double-digit revenue growth in the second quarter is also an improvement from the three previous quarters of decline in sales.

The higher sales volumes of cement and aggregates resulted in first half revenues of Php18.8 billion, higher by 8% as compared to Php17.4 billion reported in the same period last year.

Operating EBITDA and net income for the second quarter of 2018 reached Php 1.5 billion and Php 868 million. For the first half, these reached Php 2.8 billion and Php 1.6 billion, respectively.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Improved productivity resulted in higher cement production across all plants. Ongoing projects to raise the Company’s cement production capacity to 12 million metric tons from the current 10 million metric tons are expected to be completed in the first half of 2019. The Company also continued to roll-out new building solutions and services for road and infrastructure to better support the government’s infrastructure focus.

KEY FIGURES (IN THOUSANDS)

For more information on our financial performance this quarter, you may check our page at the Philippines Stock Exchange website or the section on disclosures on our Company’s website.