Caribbean Cement resumes exports to Cuba

Caribbean Cement Co Ltd increased its export sales threefold YoY in 2019, including markets such as Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

While CCCL’s 2019 annual report did not name Guantánamo Bay, a cement company representative told the Financial Gleaner that Caribbean Cement resumed exports to that area, and that those sales would have positively impacted on total exports.
The cement producer had previously announced that it wanted to recommence exports to several Caribbean countries, including the Bahamas, Bermuda and Grenada.

2019 results
Revenue for the group edged up one per cent YoY to XCD17.76bn (US$6.6bn) with the majority of sales – around XCD17.57bn, in Jamaica, according to the Jamaica Gleaner. Earnings from operations advanced to XCD4.25bn from XCD4.16bn in 2018.

However, muted sales growth combined with a larger debt financing bill saw the company’s bottomline contract from XCD2.47bn to XCD1.88bn. Finance costs were higher at XCD881m and losses from foreign currency reached XCD640m. Around two-thirds of the company’s XCD9.15m debt is denominated in US currency.