Operational earnings down 2% to $4.3 billion for the half-year period

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Jamaica’s sole cement manufacturer, Carib Cement is hurting from higher operational costs as a result of the downturn in the global economy and rising costs.

Due to the impact of higher operational costs, the company is reporting a two per cent decline in operating earnings for the group for the half-year period ended June 30, 2022 compared to the corresponding period last year.

Operating earnings are down to J$4.3 billion for the period under review in comparison to the J$4.4 billion reported for the comparative period last year.

For the June second quarter, the operation earnings amounted to J$2.0 billion or nine per cent lower than the J$2.2 billion reported in 2021. Earnings before taxation increased by four per cent to J$4.0 billion for the first half of the year.

The earnings before taxation for the June quarter was $1.9 billion, a reduction of six per cent compared with the J$2.0 billion achieved during the same period last year. The improvement in earnings before taxation was due to the positive impact on foreign exchange resulting from a reduction in the foreign currency exposure.

The overall net income achieved for the first six months was J$3.0 billion, a reduction of two per cent over 2021 and has resulted in earnings per stock unit of J$1.71. The net income for the quarter decreased to J$1.5 billion, which is seven per cent lower than the corresponding period in 2021.

Revenues up 10%

On the positive side, Carib Cement generated revenue of J$13.5 billion for the six-month period, representing an increase of 10 per cent over the corresponding period in 2021. Revenue for the June quarter increased by six per cent to J$6.7 billion over the same quarter last year.

Carib Cement remains vigilant to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine on the business, as the prices of fuel, power and shipping skyrocket. Despite these challenges, the company continues to demonstrate our strong commitment to Jamaica by adequately responding to the needs of the market.

The management remains steadfast in its mandate of building a better Jamaica and is making the necessary investments in our operations to ensure value creation for our customers and the nation at large. To this extent, Carib Cement’s continued focus on ensuring a healthy and safe working environment for all employees and contractors has yielded tangible benefits for the company and its people.

This month, Carib Cement realised a stellar lost time incident record of three years. The cement manufacturer said it was exceedingly proud of this milestone and “will remain steadfast to the continuous improvement and strengthening of our health and safety culture to protect all those who are in contact with our operations”.

Future in Action

As Carib Cement continues to centre its attention on climate change mitigation, the management is pleased with the response of the market to our Vertua-certified cement since its introduction in February.

This low-carbon cement, which has a range of features and benefits, including being more environmentally friendly and easy to place and finish without any special equipment.

The introduction of this product has moved Carib Cement a step closer to reducing its carbon footprint.

This game-changing solution aligns with the mandate of its parent company, CEMEX’s ‘Future in Action’ global sustainability strategy and forms part of the efforts other CEMEX operations are employing in various countries towards attaining carbon neutrality.

It also follows the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals on climate action. The company is also continuing to undertake its end-of-life tyre programme, which is designed to rid the Riverton disposal site of tyres that are harmful to the environment by co-processing and converting them into energy at its Rockfort plant in East Kingston.