GCC net profit up

Mexican cement maker Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua reported 175m pesos (US$15m) in net profit second quarter 2004, up 3% year-on-year as sales grew and financing costs and income tax fell, the company said.  Net sales totaled 1.03bn pesos second quarter this year, up 9.7% from same-period year ago as Mexican and US sales grew 4.5% and 15.5% respectively to roughly 515mn pesos each.  Ebitda fell 2.9% to 324mn pesos and operating income dropped 1.2% to 237mn pesos largely due to increases in variable costs as GCC purchased cement from third parties to meet US demand.