The Nation
August 3, 2013 1:00 am
This follows the company's announcement of net sales of Bt15.06 billion in the first half of this year, up 11.8 per cent from Bt13.48 billion in the first six months of 2012. Consolidated net profit attributable to equity holders posted an increase of 35.6 per cent year on year to Bt2.83 billion from Bt2.08 billion in 2012. Earnings per share for this period amounted to Bt12.32 as compared with Bt9.08 for the same half of last year.
SCCC's net sales were supported by strong demand for cement and other construction materials, while cement prices in domestic and border markets trended higher, particularly in the second quarter. The demand for building materials has been on the rise because of infrastructure projects, real-estate development and an uptrend in commercial construction activities, according to the company's press release yesterday.
Production costs remained relatively stable in spite of higher electricity rates, wages and transport costs, mainly thanks to favourable coal prices and to various improvement projects, such as thermal-energy optimisation, waste-heat recovery and alternative fuels. Consequently, the operating profit margin improved to 22.2 per cent in the first half of 2013 compared with 18.8 per cent for the same period of 2012.
In terms of outlook for the remainder of the year, SCCC expects market demand to stay strong until year-end and production costs to rise because of the maintenance of the kilns planned for the current half.
SCCC is a leading cement and building-materials supplier employing more than 3,600 people.
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