Oman Cement reported a 3.7 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit on Wednesday, beating analyst forecasts.

The company made a net profit of OMR3.83m (US$9.95m) in three months to 31 March, up from OMR3.70m in the corresponding period of 2014.

Three analysts polled by Reuters on average forecast the firm would make a net profit of OMR3.2m.
Oman Cement’s first-quarter revenue rose 10.6 per cent to OMR15.94m.

OCC's cement capacity will be increased from 2.6Mta to 3.8Mta, with the addition of a fifth, 150tph closed-circuit ball mill, ordered from FLSmidth in 2014 for US$38m with credit secured from the Oman Arab Bank.