Cement firms register solid profits

According to Tran Viet Thang, general director of state cement conglomerate Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem), despite unfavourable exports, Vicem still registered a pre-tax profit of VND1.34 trillion ($62.6 million) in this year’s first half, which is up significantly from the figure of VND1 trillion ($46.7 million) posted one year ago.

This year, the company expects that their full-year profits will surpass VND2 trillion ($93 million).

The most impressive business performance among Vicem members was from Vicem Ha Tien 1 JSC, which saw their post-tax profit in the first six months of this year spike to VND397 billion ($18.4 million), an incredible surge in growth that dwarfs the meager VND13 billion ($604,650) in the first two quarters of 2014.

Accordingly, the company’s net revenue jumped 19.4 per cent year-on-year to VND2.06 trillion ($96 million), and gross profit leapt 51.5 per cent to VND433 billion ($20 million).

In the second quarter of this year, Ha Tien 1 sold about 1.6 million tonnes of cement, an on-year jump of more than 20 per cent.

Similarly, Vicem Hoang Mai JSC has also reported positive business results. The company raked in nearly VND30 billion ($1.4 million) in post-tax profits in the first six months of this year against just VND24.7 billion ($1.1 million) a year ago.

Its net revenue from sales and service supply in the second quarter came to VND499 billion ($23.2 million) compared to only VND452 billion ($21 million) in the same period last year.

The company’s chairman Ta Quang Buu said that Vicem Hoang Mai had closely followed the business targets set out at the year’s outset albeit the long Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday in the first quarter of this year had somewhat affected their product sales.

This year, the company plans to sell 1.76 million tonnes of products (1.67 tonnes of cement, the remainder being clinker) to reach a full year revenue of VND1.83 trillion ($85.4 million) and pre-tax profit of VND65.4 billion ($3 million).

Apart from Vicem’s member units, other major players in the cement industry have also reported a promising business outlook, with two-digit growth in the year’s first half.

For example, Cam Pha Cement JSC, based in the north-eastern province of Quang Ninh, saw a 21 per cent jump in sales volume during the period, generating revenue of VND1.1 trillion ($51 million) and profit of VND66 billion ($3.06 million).

Hoang Xuan Vinh, the company’s general director, said that the company has been investing in a bulk loading system and two silos each with a carrying capacity of 3,000 tonnes of cement which will be put into service before the end of this year.

This was meant to diversify products and help Cam Pha surpass their designed capacity in the near future.

The cement industry currently operates a total of 77 production lines, with a combined capacity of 83 million tonnes.

This year, total cement consumption is forecast at 74-75 million tonnes, with 19-20 million tonnes of this total earmarked for export.

Approximately 40 million tonnes of cement were consumed in the first seven months of this year, up about 7 per cent. Export volume was estimated at nine million tonnes.