Mexican cement maker Grupo Cementos Chihuahua’s (GCC) second quarter net earnings jumped 33.5% to 238mn pesos (US$22.4m) thanks in part to higher operating profits, GCC executives announced during a conference call to discuss 2Q05 results.  Net profits in the first half of the year were 362m pesos, a 10.7% YoY increase. 
 
The net sales of GCC)reached 1.22bn pesos in the second quarter, up 17% on the 2Q04. 
 
The sales growth in the second quarter was the result of solid demand in all of GCC’s markets. 
 
"In the US, we had growth of 9.1% in sales volumes of cement and average prices were higher than those in the second quarter of 2004," company CEO Manuel Milán said during the conference.
 
In Mexico sales increased as the company started up a series of infrastructure, industrial and commercial projects. 
 
GCC’s sales in Mexico climbed 4.4% to 561mn pesos, while US sales rose 30.4% to 660mn pesos, both compared to the same quarter of 2004. In the first half of 2005, net sales climbed 7.4% year-on-year, with US sales up 27.5% and Mexican sales increasing 7.1%. 
 
As a result of the positive sales performance and lower costs, GCC corporate treasurer, Luis Carlos Arias said that the company’s operating profit was up 55.2% year-on-year to 378mn pesos in the second quarter. 
 
The operating profit for January-June totaled 550m pesos, a 28.6% increase on the first half of last year, the company said. 
 
The cement manufacturer’s total assets were at 9.8bn pesos on June 30, which was 7% lower than a year ago due to early debt repayments. Meanwhile, total liabilities on the same date were 3.46bn pesos, a year-on-year drop of 28.5%.