Holcim PHL to merge units to streamline operations

The board of cement firm Holcim Philippines Inc. has approved the company’s merger with its subsidiaries in its bid to streamline its corporate structure.

The company said it is merging Holcim Philippines Manufacturing Corp., Mabini Grinding Mill Corp. and Bulkcem Philippines Inc.

Holcim currently owns 99.6 percent of Holcim Manufacturing, which then owns Bulkcem, a company that owns a bulk terminal in Iloilo that it currently leases to the listed firm.

Meanwhi le, Holcim whol ly owns Mabini Grinding, a firm that owns a grinding station in Batangas and currently leases it to the company.

Holcim Manufacturing owns a cement plant and leases most of its manufacturing assets to Holcim.

“The proposed merger will make Holcim operations more efficient. Further, streamlining the corporate structure will result in cost savings for the company,” it said.

The said move comes after conglomerate San Miguel Corp. failed in its bid to buy the cement company for $2.15 billion as it failed to secure the approval of the local anti- trust body, which said the deal will remove competition in the local cement market, creating a merger- to- monopoly situation.

Holcim reported a 45- percent fall in its profits for January to September to P1.02 billion from last year's P1.87 billion.

Net sales for the 9- month period fell 21 percent to P18.77 billion from last year's P23.67 billion. For the third quarter of alone, it had net sales of P7.36 billion from P8.28 billion, down by 11 percent from last year.

The company, however, posted a 34- percent jump in its net income for the third quarter alone to P613.69 million from P457.45 million last year.

“While there are challenges ahead, we remain confident that the steps to keep our people healthy and safe, preserve cash, and be prudent on costs enable us to emerge stronger from this crisis. Opportunities abound for our business as the construction industry will play a key role in the country’s recovery from the pandemic. Moving forward, we are ready to support our partners build better and deliver great value to all our stakeholders,” John Stull, the company's president and CEO, said.