Listed cement makers see huge profit growth in Jan-March

​Listed cement manufacturers witnessed a significant profit growth in the January-March period of 2021 compared with that in the same period of the past year due to an improvement in the business situation after a Covid shock.

Six listed cement companies, which declared financial results for the January-March period, witnessed a massive growth in their net profits, according to the financial statements of the companies.

There are seven cement companies listed on the country’s bourses.

MI Cement Factory Limited, which unveiled its third-quarter results on Tuesday, witnessed a net profit growth of 831 per cent to Tk 40.16 crore compared with that of Tk 4.31 crore in the same period in the previous year.

The net profit of Heidelberg Cement shot up by 970 per cent to Tk 46.51 crore in January-March 2021 and the net profit of Premier Cement soared by 760 per cent to Tk 16.6 crore in January-March 2021 compared with that in the same period of the previous year.
LafargeHolcim Bangladesh’s net profit surged by 98 per cent to Tk 103.53 crore in January-March 2021 from Tk 52.24 crore in the same period of the previous year.
Meghna Cement’s net profit surged 67 per cent to Tk 1.36 crore in January-March 2021 compared with that of Tk 0.81 crore in the same period of the previous year.
Aramit Cement, a ‘Z’ category company, also bounced back from losses in the third quarter.
The company made a net profit of Tk 2.42 crore in January-March 2021 against its losses of Tk 3.93 crore in the same period of the previous year.
Confidence Cement Limited is yet to declare the financial results for the January-March period.
The cement manufacturers had struggled in 2020 due to the outbreak of Covid-19 across the globe that had brought the business activities to a standstill.
In April 2020, LafargeHolcim declared layoffs at its head office in Dhaka for few weeks amid the Covid outbreak and decreased sales during the countrywide shutdown.
Heidelberg Cement had incurred a net loss of Tk 8.08 crore in the financial year ended on December 31, 2020.
Bangladesh Cement Manufacturers Association president Alamgir Kabir told New Age that sales increased as demand for cement surged by almost 17 per cent in January-March that resulted in a better profit growth in the period.
Alamgir, also a sponsor director and vice-chairman of MI Cement, however, said that the demand for cement was now declining again due to the fresh wave of coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Cement export was also better in the January-March period, but now it has returned bad again, Alamgir said.
Lower bank interest rate has also supported the cement makers to bounce back in the third quarter, he said.  

SOURCE: newagebd