Displaying items by tag: Cementos Pacasmayo

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo has announced that, its consolidated earnings before income, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 6.4% to US$28m in the second quarter of 2015. Its net income rose by 8% to US$13.9m, but its revenues fell by 8.8%. The company said that its second quarter results were impacted by continued weakness in cement demand from the public sector. This led to a 9.4% reduction in cement sales volumes and also reduced its EBITDA, excluding US$2.76m of income from the sale of a real estate asset.

In the first six months of 2015, Cementos Pacasmayo's consolidated EBITDA increased by 8.4% to US$55.9m, its net income grew by 19.4% to US$30.3m and its revenues fell by 6%. Despite lower year-on-year cement volumes, its gross margin was 43.1%, up from 40.5% in the first half of 2014, thanks to an increased focus on efficiency and cost reductions.

Cementos Pacasmayo announced that its US$386m Piura plant had reached the final stage of construction, with cement production set to begin in the third quarter of 2015 and clinker production in the fourth quarter of 2015. The plant will reach 60% capacity by the end of 2015, a level which the company has established as the optimal capacity utilisation given the current conditions in the Peruvian cement market.

Looking ahead, independent forecasts point towards a recovery in Peruvian infrastructure spending. Local government spending improved slightly late in the second quarter of 2015, this trend is expected to continue through the second half of 2015, while the self-construction market is expected to remain at or near its current level. Cementos Pacasmayo expects its full-year cement volumes to be similar to those of 2014.

Peru: UNACEM has boosted its first half net income by 23% on higher prices and lower costs, according to Business News Americas.

UNACEM posted a US$47.8m profit and its sales rose by 6% year-on-year to US$896m in the first half of 2015. The company cut its operating costs by 8% in the first half of 2015 and its sales costs by 2.1%. Cement production fell by 1.6% to 2.71Mt in the first half of 2015, while clinker production fell by 6.3% to 2.58Mt. Exports jumped by 36.6% to 590,863t during the period.

UNACEM, which competes in Peru with companies including Cementos Pacasmayo and Gloria Group's Cementos Yura, said that it increased its domestic market share to 51.2% in the first half of 2015 from 49.9%. UNACEM expects to benefit from a growing contribution from its US$553m acquisition in 2014 from Lafarge Ecuador.

UNACEM has 7.6Mt/yr of installed cement capacity. Peru's cement production rose by 1.4% to 10.7Mt in 2014, according to cement producers' association Asocem. Exports from Peru rose by 37.4% to 306,277t in the same period.

If you ever visit Lima be sure to try the wonton soup! One of the surprises of the Peruvian capital is the large number of Chinese restaurants. Peru has one of the largest proportions of inhabitants of Chinese-descent in Latin America. This adds a spoonful of historical context to this week's news of China's Jidong Development Group's intentions to buy Cementos Interoceanicos. It is one of a few stories affirming Peru's growth in recent years, although this trend may be changing.

The major Chinese producer is acquiring a cement plant with mineral rights that was first proposed in 2008. Originally the 1.6Mt/yr plant was budgeted at US$250m with construction set to start in 2009 and production intended to start in early 2011. At the time company executive director Armando Belfiore told local press that reserves of 700Mt of limestone and 390Mt of pozzolan exist in the Macusani, Ajoyani and Potoni districts in the Carabaya province of Puno. Subsequent plans were to develop lime and calcium carbide also. However, at present the project still appears to be in the development phase. No doubt Chinese money will be very welcome.

Meanwhile Peru's local producers have steadily been making their own progress towards becoming regional players in their own right. In December 2014 Union Andina de Cementos (Unacem) completed its purchase of Lafarge's cement assets in Ecuador. The US$517m deal included a 1.4Mt/yr cement plant in Otavalo. This followed Holding Cementero del Peru, a subsidiary of Gloria which operates Cementos Yura, paying US$300m to buy up to 98.4% in Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (Soboce), Bolivia's largest cement producer. Media analysts have predicted that Cementos Pacasmayo is also likely to expand internationally once it has finished its local projects.

Internally, each of the major Peruvian cement producers has its own projects. Unacem is investing US$374m on its Atocongo and Condorcocha plants between 2014 and 2018, with a focus on the cement mill, the development of the Carpapata III hydroelectricity project and the construction of bagging facilities in Condorcocha. Cementos Yura targeted US$50m towards machinery and equipment at its Yura plant near Arequipa. Cementos Pacasmayo's new US$385m cement plant at Piura is due to start operation in the second half of 2015. The new plant in northwest Peru will have a production capacity of 1.6Mt/yr of cement and 1Mt/yr of clinker.

Cement production in Peru has slowed since 2012 when the country saw production rise by 16% year-on-year to 9.85Mt. 2013 saw production rise by 6% to 10.5Mt. Currently released figures from the association of cement manufacturers in Peru (Asocem) to November 2014 suggest that this growth has continued to fall to 1.5% year-on-year.

Cementos Pacasmayo reported in its third quarter report for 2014 that the Peruvian economy had experienced a slowdown during the first nine months of the year although it was expected to recover in the final quarter and beyond due to impending infrastructure projects and spending. Given Peru's continued growth in gross domestic product (GDP), Jidong, Pacasmayo and Peru's other cement producers could do worse than order a nice bowl of wonton soup while they wait and see what happens.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo has reported a 17% drop in profit year-on-year for the third quarter of 2013 due to fall in cement sales. Its profit fell to US$13.9m in the July to September 2014 quarter from US$16.7m in the same period of 2013. Profit for the nine-month period rose by 3.4% to US$41.6m.

Net sales from the Peruvian cement producer fell by 6% year-on-year to US$108m for the third quarter of 2014. Sales remained static for the year to date. Consolidated adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 3.4% to US$29.9m for the third quarter of 2014. A similar fall in consolidated adjusted EBITDA was noted for the year to date. Cement production fell by 7.5% to 578,000t for the third quarter. Overall for the year to date cement production remained static at 1.73Mt.

In its earnings release Cementos Pacasmayo reported that its new cement plant in Piura should begin operation in the second half of 2015. The US$385m plant will have a production capacity of 1.6Mt/yr of cement and 1Mt/yr of clinker.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo has reported a rise in sales of 9.1% to US$197m for the second quarter of 2013 from US$180m in the same period in 2012. However the Peruvian cement producer's net profits were hit by negative exchange rate changes in the second quarter of 2013 and fell by 21.7% to US$8.38m. Despite the effects of the exchange rate drop, the company attributed its increase in sales to growing domestic demand for cement by so-called 'self-construction' projects.

The company's operating profit rose by 72.9% in the second quarter to US$27.9m from US$16.1m. Consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose by 60% to US$32.8m from US$20.5m. Total cement production increased year-on-year to 0.55Mt from 0.51Mt.

In its summary of quarterly events Cementos Pacasmayo reported that it obtained the approval of the environmental impact study in May 2013 for the construction of the new cement plant in Piura. Construction of the plant is expected to begin in the 'coming months.'

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo had reported a 13% rise in its net income to US$17.1m for the first quarter of 2013 from US$15.1m in the same period in 2012. The Peruvian cement producer's sales rose by 5% to US$110m from US$105m. The company said its cement sales volume rose by 6.5% to 569,300t from 534,500t.

"The 'self-construction' segment continued to drive sales as a result of economic growth registered in the northern region of Peru," the company said. It also cited favourable financing conditions and the creation of quality jobs for driving growth in private consumption as reasons for increased cement sales volumes.

Peru: Peruvian cement producer Cementos Pacasmayo has reported that it more than doubled its net income in 2012, to US$61.6m from US$26.2m in 2011. Fourth quarter income was reported having increased by 41% year-on-year to US$15.5m from US$11m in 2011. Cementos Pacasmayo sold 617,500t of cement in the fourth quarter of 2012, a 14% rise from 540,800t sold in the same period in 2011.

"The strength in public and private investment, favourable financing conditions and the creation of high quality jobs resulted in higher cement sales volume," the company said.

Cementos Pacasmayo supplies cement to northern Peru, where about 22% of the population lives and which accounts for approximately 15% of Peru's national gross domestic product.