Holcim profit grew 15% to P1.76B in 3rd quarter

Listed building equipment supplier Holcim Philippines posted a 15.3 percent jump in net income to P1.76 billion for the third quarter from a P1.53 billion profit a year ago.

The company attributed its improved bottomline to sustained gains in operational efficiencies implemented at the start of the year and higher cement sales that led to revenues of P9.99 billion for the period.

Holcim Philippines’ financial performance from January to Sep­tember was also better than last year’s.

Profits increased by almost a fifth to P5.42 billion or equivalent to P.084 earnings per share, while earnings before income tax, de­preciation and amortization (EBITDA) was higher by 16.65 percent at P8.53 billion.

Cement sales improvement for the year led to revenues of P30.81 billion for the product, which was a 10 percent increase, the company said.

The overall cement demand was fueled by the government’s in­creased infrastructure investments and the private sector’s rollout of projects amid a robust economy.

To support the country’s development and government’s focus on infrastructure, Holcim has implemented projects to increase its an­nual cement production capacity to 10 million metric tons from eight million tons, and has introduced a range of innovative construction solutions to the market, Holcim said.

Holcim operates cement manufacturing facilities in La Union, Bulacan, Misamis Oriental and Davao, and owns mobile concrete mix facilities.

Holcim said it is also committed to highest standards of sustain­able operations and manufacturing excellence with its plants certified under ISO 14001:2004 for environmental management system, ISO 9001:2008 for quality management system and OHSAS 18001:2007 for cccupational health and safety management system.

Holcim is a unit of the Lafarge Holcim Group, the world leader in the building material industry. RIZA LOZADA