(Hong Kong, 23 October 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 nine months ended 30 September 2015 (the "Period").
During the Period, the Company's consolidated turnover amounted to approximately HK$ 19.7 billion, representing a decrease of 15.5% as compared with the corresponding period last year. Profit attributable to owners of the Company was HK$1.28 billion, representing a decrease of 60.6% from that of the corresponding period last year. Basic earnings per share was HK$0.196. As at 30 September 2015, the total assets of the Group amounted to HK$55.4 billion, net gearing ratio was 59.6% and net assets per share was HK$4.18.
During the Period, the total sales volume of cement and clinker increased by 4.5% to 57.8 million tons, while the sales volume of concrete decreased by 23.5% to 8.9 million cubic metres. The sales of cement, clinker and concrete accounted for 76.7%, 4.0% and 19.3 % of the consolidated turnover of the Company respectively. Guangdong and Guangxi remained the Company's core markets, accounting for 40.8% and 28.6% of the total sales volume of cement respectively. During the Period, the blended average selling price of cement products decreased by 17.4% to HK$276 per ton, whereas the average selling price of concrete increased by 1.2% to HK$427 per cubic metre as compared with the corresponding period last year.
During the Period, the consolidated gross margin decreased by 6.7 percentage points to 24.4% as compared with the corresponding period last year. The decrease in gross margin was mainly attributable to lower selling prices of cement and clinker as compared with the corresponding period last year. The gross margins of cement, clinker and concrete for the Period were 24.1%, 11.3% and 28.3% respectively. Net margin of the Group for the Period was 6.3%, which was 7.5 percentage points lower than the corresponding period last year.
