Peru-based Cementos Pacasmayo reported a rise of 4.6 per cent in revenues to PEN340.7m (US$102.3m) in the fourth quarter of 2018 with sales volumes of cement, concrete and precast increasing 5.6 per cent to 656.2t as the public sector recovered. Demand from self-construction and small- and medium-sized projects also advanced.

The cement EBITDA margin slipped by 5.8 percentage points to 26.6 per cent, mainly due to higher production costs and a non-cash effect generated by the provision of an account receivable to the Peruvian tax authority. The latter also affected the net income, which reached PEN-11.5m, which was also impacted by accumulated exchange rate losses due to the purchase of part of the international bonds. Excluding these effects, net income would have been PEN19.4m.