Vicem Hoang Mai Cement JSC expects to post a pretax profit of in the third quarter after an audited loss in the first six months, but is unlikely to hit its full-year target.

The company’s third quarter pretax profit is expected to reach VND20bn (US$947,800) following a loss of VND23.78bn in the first half, the Dau Tu Chung Khoan magazine cited an official of the firm as saying.

However, even with this quarterly advance the company is unlikely to hit its full-year profit target of VND90bn set for this year, the official said, adding that input costs have been on the rise while its selling prices have been unchanged.