Phinma closes P400-M outlay in cement unit

PHINMA CORP. on Tuesday closed its P400-million investment in Philcement Corp. after paying the last tranche of its deal value.

The company paid Philcement P60 million on Tuesday, completing its investment in the latter’s preferred shares.

Phinma in August last year said it would buy P400 million worth of preferred shares in Philcement, where it has a 60% stake. The investment is meant to help the unit expand.

Philcement has a cement facility in Bataan that produces two million tons of cement yearly. It is also in the process of taking over the port that it leases for the cement processing terminal through an P800-million deal.

The company gets its cement products from Vietnam that it then distributes in bulk and 40-kilo bags across the Philippines.

Philcement’s operations helped Phinma temper its income decline in the first half, contributing P224.2 million, nearly three times more than a year earlier.

Philcement sales rose to a record 4.22 million bags in June when quarantine restrictions were eased and construction work was allowed to resume. This pushed its revenue up 63% to P2.37 billion.

Aside from cement, Phinma also has investments in education, property, steel products and the hospitality sector. It swung to a net loss of P38.28 million in the six months to June after a coronavirus pandemic forced it to shut operations. — Denise A. Valdez

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Article and Photo originally posted by Business World last September 2, 2020 12:03am.