Eastern Province Cement 9M review
Eastern Province Cement Company has announced its 9M-2009 results. Net profits witnessed a decline of 16.4% YoY in 9M-2009 to SR300.6m while revenues declined by 6.9% YoY to SR586.2mn in 9M-2009.
The net profit for 9M-2009 is in-line with Global Investment House (GIH) forecasts of SR306.0mn, a deviation of approximately 2.0%. On a quarterly basis, the company registered earnings of SR100.6mn (SR1.17EPS) in 3Q2009 which is up 60.4%YoY but down 2.4% QoQ. Revenues are up 27.1% YoY but down 9.8% QoQ.
Despite increase in local dispatches by 20.8% to 2.3Mt, sales revenue declined in the 9M-2009 due to a drastic drop in exports by 82.4% to 93,000t in the aftermath of the cement export ban.
The gross profit margin have also come down in the 9M-2009 to 56.3% from 59.5% in 9M-2008 due to a decline in average realisation price of cement from SR259 per ton (US$67.56/t) in 9M-2008 to SR244 per ton (US$63.65/t) in 9M-2009.
GIH expects Eastern Province Cement Company to report full year net profit of SR420.8mn (EPS: SR4.89) in 2009. Published under Cement News
