Conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. expects the financial performance of its cement business to register significant improvement starting this year as demand started to pick up both in the public and private sectors.
Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. president and chief executive Sabin Aboitiz said in an interview Monday the de-bottlenecking of Republic Cement & Building Materials Inc. and additional investment in new kiln were expected to improve the company’s margins.
“Last year was the bottom. As we invest in new plants which what we are doing right now, that will improve our margins,” Aboitiz said.
AEV earlier said it would invest up to $300 million to add another 1.5 million metric tons through de-bottlenecking of cement plants and the construction of a new kiln.
He said the additional cement capacity of 150,000 MT would start coming in by the last quarter of 2018, while the bulk would boost output by 2019.