Eagle Cement profits surge 49% to 11.6 billion

Eagle Cement Corporation, controlled by the family of tycoon Ramon S. Ang, reported a 49 percent jump in net income to 11.6 billion in the first quarter of 2019 from the same period last year.

In a statement, the firm said net sales grew 34 percent to 15.4 billion, boosted by more than 20 percent growth in sales volume and improvement in average selling price of cement.

“Our solid performance in the first quarter is still anchored on the increasing domestic demand for cement mostly coming from the private sector and supported by government’s infrastructure activities,” Eagle president and CEO Paul Ang said.

Gross profit of the company reached 12.3 billion, up 23 percent, while EBITDA grew 20 percent to 12.0 billion translating to an EBITDA margin of 37 percent.

The firm continues to ramp up capacity as it expects demand to further increase with the ongoing construction boom from the private sector along with government’s roll out of infrastructure projects.

Eagle announced that the ongoing expansion of its grinding facility in Bulacan is in full swing and will add 1.5 miilion metric tons to its annual capacity of 8.6 million metric tons by 2020.

“We remain positive in the growth prospects of the cement industry as we see imported traded cements growing at a faster pace from 2018 despite the implementation of the additional duty for imported cement starting February this year,” said Ang.

He added that “this is proof that we still have a long was to go in order to meet the accelerating demand expected in the years to come.”