City Cement reports “satisfactory” figures in Q2 on price corrections, says CEO

City Cement Co. reported satisfactory results in Q2 2019 on price corrections, chief executive officer, Majed Alosailan, told Argaam.

“The Saudi cement producer is still pursuing an operating as well as cost efficiency strategy,” Alosailan added.

Alosailan explained that price corrections, which followed industry losses and price wars, were driven by market changes, and that they aimed at maintaining shareholders’ rights and generating industry proceeds.

“Cement is a basic commodity, which has a certain price threshold, and has a significant role in building as well as construction activities,” he indicated.

“City Cement is ready to fulfil local demand across the Kingdom as its plant has a production capacity of 16,000 tons/day and is introducing a package of environment-friendly and high-quality products in line with the international standards,” Alosailan said, expecting cement demand to grow in H2 2019. 

“We will be considering exports if proved feasible; however, no cement exports were carried out in H1 2019,” he noted.

Alosailan also indicated that the cement mill and alternative fuel projects were completed and delivered as scheduled.

City Cement generated SAR 73.7 million in profit in H1 2019, compared to SAR 34.8 million in year-earlier period. Q2 2019 earnings increased YoY to SAR 32.3 million, Argaam reported.