(Hong Kong, 24 April 2015) – 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 three months ended 31 March 2015 (the "Period").
During the Period, the Company's consolidated turnover amounted to approximately HK$6.2 billion, representing a decrease of 8.7% as compared with the corresponding period last year. Profit attributable to owners of the Company was HK$660 million, representing a decrease of 14.0% from that of the corresponding period last year. Basic earnings per share was HK$0.101. As at 31 March 2015, the total assets of the Group amounted to HK$57 billion, net gearing ratio was 60.8% and net assets per share was HK$4.40.
During the Period, the total sales volume of cement and clinker increased by 7.5% to 16.4 million tons, while the sales volume of concrete decreased by 15.0% to 2.6 million cubic metres. The sales of cement, clinker and concrete accounted for 76.6%, 5.3% and 18.1% of the consolidated turnover of the Company respectively. Guangdong and Guangxi remained the Company's core markets, accounting for 43.6% and 27.0% of the total sales volume of cement respectively. During the Period, the blended average selling price of cement products decreased by 14.6% to HK$310 per ton, whereas the average selling price of concrete increased by 4.3% to HK$439 per cubic metre as compared with the corresponding period last year.
During the Period, the consolidated gross margin decreased by 5.9 percentage points to 25.9% as compared with the corresponding period last year. The decrease in gross margin was mainly attributable to reduction in selling prices of cement products compared with the corresponding period last year. The gross margins of cement, clinker and concrete for the Period were 26.8%, 14.4% and 25.4% respectively. Net margin of the Group for the Period was 10.2%, which was 0.8 percentage points lower than the corresponding period last year.
