Cement producers Holcim Philippines Inc. and Eagle Cement Corp. booked double-digit growth in 2021 profits on higher demand.
HPI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange net income climbed 24.2 percent in 2021 to P2.56 billion from P2.06 billion in 2020 as net sales rose 3.6 percent to P26.9 billion on improved volumes and prices given the modest recovery of construction activity.
“Despite market pressures brought by the pandemic, weather disturbances that impacted the continuity of construction activities and surges in energy and fuel prices, our company was able to deliver strong profit growth in 2021 from 2020,” HPI president and chief executive Horia Adrian said.
“We are excited to further raise performance and deliver more positive impact through strategies and initiatives anchored on cost mindfulness, operational excellence, innovation, and sustainability,” Adrian said.
Meanwhile, Eagle Cement reported a 78-percent increase in net income in 2021 to P6.02 billion from P3.4 billion in 2020, as sales grew faster than expenses.
Net sales jumped 54 percent to P21.39 billion from P13.9 billion in 2020.
Eagle Cement announced last year it would acquire 100 percent of Solid North Mineral Corp., a quarrying and mining company through a share swap agreement for P3.57 billion.
The acquisition, Eagle Cement said, was a strategic move to ensure sustainable supply of raw materials for cement operations.
SNMC is primarily engaged in mining of metallic and non-metallic resources, exploration, quarrying activities and processing of limestone.
It holds a mineral production sharing agreement issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau. It has a limestone pulverizing plant in Barangay Akle, San Ildefonso, Bulacan, which is adjacent to Eagle Cement’s cement production facility.
