Trinidad Cement forecasts a competitive 2017

Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) has forecast construction activity to remain sluggish during the coming year, particularly in Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, in the face of "increasingly aggressive competition in the region".

In its audited financial report for the 12 months ending December 2016, TCL, which is the subject of a takeover by the Mexican-based cement giant Cemex, said it will continue to focus on three key elements to reinforce the position of the company, including seeking out and developing new markets for all its products. Cemex's subsidiary Sierra Trading has now made an application to the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) to delist TCL's stock. Sierra Trading secured just under 70 per cent of the shareholding following the closing of its takeover offer on 7 February 2017.

TCL said that its results for 4Q16 was significantly impacted by the adverse economic conditions affecting one of its major markets, Trinidad and Tobago.

It said that the contraction in the construction sector has been significant and that "our revenue in the final quarter of 2016 of TTD450m (US$66.7m) represented a decline of six per cent when compared with 2015.

"Overall, the Group generated TTD1.9bn of revenue during 2016, an 11 per cent decrease over 2015," the TCL Group said, adding that EBITDA and loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment, and manpower and stockholding restructuring costs for 2016 was TTD464.2m, reflecting an adjusted margin of 25 per cent.

"The outcome of all this was that Group profit after tax was TTD52.4m, representing TTD0.10 earnings per share.