Lafarge Malayan has recorded a nine-month pre-tax profit of RM138.688m (US$38m) against a loss of RM26.237m a year ago as it benefits from firmer domestic and higher export prices. Domestic cement prices have recovered from the low level during the intense price war in the first half of 2005, it said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia on Nov 22.
The company however noted that higher domestic cement prices were offset by higher logistic costs, higher electricity tariff effective from 1 June 2006 and lower non-operating income.
Revenue rose to RM1,574.256m for the nine months ended 30 September 2006 from RM1,359.292m previously mainly due to higher domestic and export sales volumes in the third quarter.
