Eagle Cement income down 44% in 2020

The disruption caused by the lockdown measures amid the coronavirus pandemic resulted in the full-year net income of Eagle Cement Corp. to drop 44 percent to P3.4 billion in 2020 from P6 billion in 2019.

In a disclosure on Monday, the listed cement manufacturer also reported 30-percent weaker net sales of P13.9 billion last year from P19.8 billion the previous year.

Despite the declines, Eagle Cement said it saw better results during the second half of the year as quarantine measures were eased.

The firm’s second semester net sales stood at P8 billion, 14-percent lower year-on-year but 35-percent better than the first-half figure.

“The halting of our operations due to pandemic-related restrictions took a hit on our results in the first half of 2020 but the remaining half proved that we are well-positioned to bounce back. We saw improvement in our volume and we are able to bring down our production cost in 2020,” Eagle Cement President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Ang said in the disclosure.

Eagle Cement also noted that its Bulacan expansion is nearly complete and is expected to be operational by the second quarter of the year.

The expansion is seen increasing the company’s production capacity by 1.5 million metric tons (MMT) to improve its total annual cement capacity to 8.6 MMT.

“We will continue to work on aggressive marketing and better pricing strategies for this year and this will be complemented by focusing on cost control initiatives in our operations, which will enable us to deliver better returns in 2021,” Ang continued.

Shares of Eagle Cement gained 60 centavos or 5.45 percent to finish at P11.60 apiece on Monday.

Article and Photo originally posted by Manila Times last April 13, 2021 and written by Faye Almazan.