Asia Cement's H1 interim profit doubles

Boost in product sales and dip in coal prices led to increased performance

 

{reg} Asia Cement announced at the end of June 2013 that profit attributable to shareholders for the first half of 2013 more than doubled, reaching CHN 256 million. This yielded CHN 0.16 in earnings per share. No interim dividends were declared. The main reasons for the good performance were a boost in product sales and a dip in coal prices.

Over the reporting period, the group's revenues stood at CHN 3.18 billion, which represents a 3% increase. This was mainly due to improved fixed asset investment that occurred in the fourth quarter of last year.

Cement sales amounted to 11.46 million tons. Compared with last year's 9.7 million, this marks an increase of 18%. Meanwhile, production costs per ton of cement decreased by 8%, leading to a 20 percent increase in gross profit. {/reg}