CRC attributable profit drops 76% YoY

China Resources Cement (CRC) said its profit attributable to owners for the year ended 31 December 2015 dropped 75.9 per cent YoY to HKD1015m (US$130.8m).

Turnover was HKD26,779m, a decrease of 18 per cent from a year earlier. The consolidated gross margin was 24 per cent, representing a decrease of 7.3 percentage points from 31.3 per cent for 2014.

The average selling price of cement last year was HKD269.9/t, down 20.2 per cent over 2014. The company noted that during 2015, demand for cement products was sluggish due to the slowdown in economic growth in China. "Cement prices have been sliding continually from the  beginning of the year and did not improve after entering the normal peak season in the fourth quarter," CRC said.

In 2015 the group completed the construction of a 1Mta grinding line at Lianjiang City, Guangdong as well as clinker production line No 5 at Fengkai County, Guangdong, with a capacity of 1.6Mta. Three concrete batching plants were also completed.

The group also entered into processing contracts with certain cement grinding factories in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan "to improve production efficiency and optimise clinker consumption," it said.