Muscat - Oman Cement Co has reported a 34.9 per cent growth in net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013. On the back of improved sales volumes the cement producer's net profit surged to RO6.9mn from RO5.1mn in the same period of 2012.
According to a filing with the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) on Monday, the company achieved sales of 628,553 metric tonnes (MT) of cement during the first quarter of 2013 which is 12.5 per cent higher compared to 558,495MT in the same period of 2012. In value terms, sales for the three-month period rose 12 per cent to RO15.65mn from RO13.96mn in the same period last year.
In the directors' report, company chairman Dr Abdullah Abbas Ahmed said, "We have continued to successfully improve our sales and profit with a balanced approach of marketing efforts, a competitive price structure and discount scheme backed by the quality of our products, and adopting effective expenditure-control measures."
"As demonstrated by increased sales volume during the first quarter, the company is confident of the demand for cement in the country. With the company's well-structured pricing policy, we hope that in spite of stiff competition with other cement manufacturers, particularly from neighbouring countries, the company will continue to do well in retaining its market share," he said.
Oman Cement Co is in the process of increasing its cement-grinding capacity by installing a new cement mill of 150TPH (tonnes per hour) capacity and identifying a suitable vendor.
The company is also planning to improve its pollution control equipment on line 2 to decrease dust-emission levels and the process of identifying a suitable consultant in this regard is in progress.
The company produced 637,269MT of cement during the three months of 2013, which is 17.24 per cent higher from 543,544MT produced during the corresponding period of 2012. It produced a total of 561,119MT of clinker during the first quarter as against 538,295MT during the same period of the previous year, which is higher by 4.2 per cent.
© Muscat Daily 2013
