(Hong Kong, 24 October 2014) – China Resources Cement Holdings Limited ("China Resources Cement" or the "Company", SEHK stock code: 1313, and together with its subsidiaries, the "Group"), one of the leading cement and concrete producers in Southern China, announced its unaudited financial information for the nine months ended 30 September 2014 (the "Period").
During the Period, the Company's consolidated turnover amounted to HK$23.4 billion, representing an increase of 17.7% as compared with the corresponding period last year. Profit attributable to owners of the Company reached HK$3.26 billion, representing an increase of 52.0% from that of the same peroid last year. Basic earnings per share was HK$0.498. As at 30 September 2014, the total assets of the Group increased by 4.0% to HK$56.4 billion and net gearing ratio lowered by 7.5 percentage points to 63.5%, comparing to that at 31 December 2013. Net assets per share was HK$4.15. The Board does not recommend the payment of any dividend for the three months ended 30 September 2014.
During the Period, the sales volume of cement and clinker increased by 2.4% to 55.28 million tons, while concrete increased by 10.3% to 11.65 million cubic meters. By business segment, the sales of cement, clinker and concrete accounted for 73.1%, 5.9% and 21.0% of the consolidated turnover. Guangdong and Guangxi remained the Company's core market, accounting for 41.3% and 27.6% of the total cement sales volume respectively. During the Period, the blended average selling price of cement and clinker increased by 13.5% to HK$334 per ton, whereas that of concrete increased by 12.1% to HK$422 per cubic meter as compared with the corresponding period last year.
During the Period, the consolidated gross profit margin increased by 6.5 percentage points year-on-year to 31.1%, mainly due to the improvement in selling price. The gross profit margin of cement, clinker and concrete was 34.6%, 13.9% and 23.9% respectively. For the corresponding period in 2013, the gross profit margin was 25.8%, 13.1% and 24.8% respectively.
An exchange loss of HK$124 million was generated from net borrowings denominated in other currencies for the Period due to the depreciation of Renminbi against other currencies during the Period. For the corresponding period in 2013, an exchange gain of HK$286 million was recorded.
Net margin of the Group for the Period was 13.8%, which was 3.0 percentage points higher than that of 10.8% for the corresponding period last year. After full allocation of other income and corporate expenses but excluding the share of results of associates and joint ventures, net profit per ton of cement products and per cubic meter of concrete for the Period were about HK$49.2 (HK$32.3 for the corresponding period in 2013) and HK$23.1 (HK$16.7 for the corresponding period in 2013) respectively.
