Al Jouf Cement CEO sees slight rise in Q3 selling prices on growing local demand

Abdulkarim Al Nuhayer, CEO of Al-Jouf Cement Co.

Average selling prices in Q3 2023 are likely to be close to the second-quarter level, as a possible slight rise is expected by mid-quarter due to higher demand from government projects, Abdulkarim Al Nuhayer, CEO of Al Jouf Cement Co., told Argaam in an exclusive interview.

Al Jouf Cement’s sales volumes grew by 12% to 289,000 tons in Q2 2023 from 267,000 tons in Q2 2022. Clinker sales volumes rose by 28% to 109,000 tons from 85,000 tons in the second quarter of 2022.

Al Jouf Cement’s average selling price rose by 19% year-on-year (YoY) in Q2 2023, with that of clinker leaping nearly 93%, Al Nuhayer said.

The CEO attributed the company’s higher profit in Q2 2023 to operations despite higher interest rates. Al Jouf Cement incurred finance charges of SAR 10.3 million in Q2 2023, compared to SAR 6.8 million in the year-earlier period.

The profit growth was spurred by increased sales volumes and value, along with better average selling prices and the improved cost of goods sold, despite weak local demand. All these factors underpin the company’s new strategic objectives, he added.

Al Jouf Cement is upbeat about local demand during the second half of the year, on expectations for increased demand from mega projects across the Kingdom, particularly in districts near the company’s factory. This will contribute to bolstering the cement sector’s results, as producers suffered from subdued demand in H1 2023, compared to the first-half period of previous years.

On the external auditor’s report and notes about the company’s inventory, Al Nuhayer pointed to various challenges facing Al Jouf Cement, including the manually-calculated costs. Al Jouf Cement, could not make full use of the potential of the ERP-SAP enterprise resource planning system, the application of which coincided with the transition to the implementation of the costing system, fueling many of the challenges endured by the company this year.

An increase in the inventory balance was noticed as a result of system errors. Accordingly, Al Jouf Cement appointed a SAP consultancy firm, specialized in the production costing system, to verify the applicable system. The latter managed to attract high calibers and has long-standing experience in finance management information systems.

Based on the consultant’s report, work is ongoing to complete some of the pending systems, related to the production costing system. It is likely to be finalized in the next two months.

According to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) applicable in the Kingdom, which link external auditors and companies, preliminary financial statements are inspected by directing questions to corporate officials and applying other analytical and inspection measures. The quarterly inspection is much less than the audited annual audit process, which includes the SAP ERP automated systems that are linked to the operations that have a financial impact.

Al Nuhayer added that the external auditor’s notes about Q2 2023 financial statements are related to the IFRS, which reclassify long-term facilities as short-term ones in case there is a violation of some conditions under the loan agreements, namely those related to financial ratios. Accordingly, as much as SAR 443.5 million was reclassified as short-term liabilities.

Most of the outstanding credit facilities will mature over various periods, extending until Q2 2027 and Q1 2029.

Al Jouf Cement is in talks with creditors to restructure loans. Talks are at advanced stages, as the company reported better results for three consecutive quarters, in addition to regaining creditors’ confidence. Al Nuhayer noted that this move reflects the management’s ability to continue improving and developing, along with the expected growth in demand for the company’s products. He expected the debt restructuring to be completed in Q4 2023.

The CEO added the new changes in the company’s board of directors introduced new cadres with broad expertise. These changes will drive a qualitative shift in the coming period.

Al Jouf Cement’s half-year profit jumped to SAR 43.6 million from SAR 1.8 million in H1 2022. The second-quarter net earnings reached SAR 20.2 million, Argaam earlier reported.