Saudi Arabia’s Yamama Cement (YSCC) registered revenue of SR211 million ($56 million), a year-on-year (y-o-y) drop of 10.8% attributed to a 13.9% y-o-y fall in average realisation, a report said.
Cement sales volume for 4Q20 came in at 1.19 million tons, 0.9% higher than estimates, though the average realisation at SR177/ton was lower than estimates by 5.9%, said Al Rajhi Capital, a leading provider of financial services in the kingdom.
Continued growth from mortgages aided volume growth, while competition among the local players kept the prices under check. Gross profit and operating income fell by 23.2% y-o-y and 24.8% y-o-y respectively and were impacted by lower realization.
For 2020, YSCC registered a volume growth of 17.9% y-o-y. Growth was aided by strong momentum in real estate activities in the local market.
Going forward, this trend is expected to continue, though growth rates for 2021 will be tempered by the higher base in 2020, the report said.
“The operating performance during the quarter was impacted by high price competition in the region. However, we expect the same to abate, going forward, and we expect average realizations to improve gradually, given the expected improvement in utilization,” Al Rajhi Capital said in the report. - TradeArabia News Service
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