For the first nine months of the year Lafarge Pakistan Cement earned a profit of 17.6 per cent but third quarter sales proved disappointing.

For the Jan-September 2013 period the company reported of PKR903m (US$8.47m) compared to PKR768m in the same period of last year. However, during the quarter ending 30 September 2013, profit after tax fell by 86 per cent to PKR39m.

According to analysts at Summit Capital this last quarterly performance were "unsatisfactory for more than one reason", including a rise in administrative and financial costs. The research house noted that this performance comes at a time when other local companies have been performing well and "getting rid of their previous debts."