Cementos Pacasmayo, a leading Peruvian cement company, reported a 9.1 per cent increase in cement sales volumes for the 2Q13 as it benefits from strong demand in the northern region.
During the second quarter, consolidated EBITDA rose 60 per cent to PEN91.5m (US$32.8m) compared to PEN57.2m in the same period the year before. Operating profit increased 72.9 per cent in 2Q13 to PEN77.8m compared to 2Q12. However, net income fell 21.7 per cent in the second quarter to PEN 23.4m, mainly due to exchange rate fluctuations, the company said in a statement.
Consolidated sales of cement, concrete and blocks increased 21.5 per cent in 2Q13 compared to 2Q12, mainly driven by healthy demand in the northern region, a trend that began in 2012.
The current government has expressed its intention to increase and accelerate investment in infrastructure and in June announced that it had earmarked approximately US$780m for infrastructure works. Similarly, a bill was presented to Congress to extend the Public Works Tax Deduction Law, a measure that allows companies to finance public investment projects in exchange for the payment of the Income Tax.
Pacasmayo notes that the potential increase in infrastructure investment generates a direct positive impact on the demand for cement. “Bearing in mind the natural geographic segmentation of the market, we can infer that the vast majority of public and private infrastructure projects in the northern region would be served by Cementos Pacasmayo,” the company noted.
