Holcim Phillippines expects sales recovery

Holcim Philippines Inc expects sales to recover this year on positive economic indicators alongside an anticipated early-spending boost in the run up to the 2013 elections, reports the Business Mirror of the Philippines.

Holcim Philippines Chief Operating Officer, Roland van Wijnen, told the newspaper that 2012 sales volume could grow five percent with an “upside potential.”

“We look positively toward the first six months,” said van Wijnen.

Holcim Philippines reported earlier that 2011 sales slid 8.7 per cent to PHP21.62bn lower public-infrastructure spending and continued delays of the government’s public-private partnership program.

Holcim Philippines noted that demand recovered in the fourth quarter of the year, growing 20 percent as government spending picked up and private-sector construction remained robust.

“We saw a continuation of the strong fourth quarter,” van Wijnen said, referring to growth in the first two months of 2012. But he admitted that energy costs would continue to be a challenge for the year.