February 29, 2024
Caribbean Cement Company Ltd (CCC) for the year ended December 31, 2023, reported a 7% increase in Revenues totaling $27.72 billion compared to $25.84 billion in the corresponding period last year. Revenues for the fourth quarter had a 5% increase to close at $6.45 billion compared to $6.15 billion for the comparable quarter of 2022.
Cost of sales amounted to $16.42 billion (2022: $14.48 billion), this represents an increase of 13% year over year. Consequently, gross profit decreased by 1% to $11.30 billion compared to $11.36 billion for the year ended December 31, 2022. The company booked gross profit of $2.80 billion for the fourth quarter versus $2.51 billion reported for the similar quarter of 2022.
Operating Expenses increased by 6% to close at $2.86 billion (2022: $2.68 billion). Operating profit for the year amounted to $7.42 billion, a 6% decrease relative to $7.86 billion reported in 2022. Operating profit for the fourth quarter amounted to $1.66 billion (2022: $1.67 billion). CCC noted that “the Group’s operating earnings were affected by increased costs associated with scheduled annual maintenance activity in the first quarter of 2023.”
Finance Costs totalled $193.12 million, a 67% decrease from the corresponding period last year. (2022: $581.41 million).
Profit before taxation for the year amounted to $7.26 billion relative to $7.24 billion reported in 2022. Profit before taxation for the fourth quarter amounted to $1.63 billion (2022: $1.48 billion). “Despite the decline in operating earnings, positive earnings before taxation were achieved due to the implementation of a foreign exchange exposure reduction initiative and investment of available liquid cash in interest-bearing instruments”, management noted.
Taxation for the year had a 9% decline to reach $1.68 billion (2022: $1.86 billion). Net Profit for the year for the year end amounted to $5.58 billion, a 4% increase from the $5.38 billion reported in 2022. For the fourth quarter, Net Profit was $1.19 billion (2022: $1.13 billion).
Consequently, Earnings Per Share for the year end amounted to $6.55 (2022: EPS: $6.33), while Earnings Per Share for the quarter totaled $1.40 (2022: EPS: $1.33). The number of shares used in these calculations was 851,136,591.
Notably, CCC’s stock price closed the trading period on February 28, 2024, at a price of $60.00 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 9.16x.
Balance Sheet Highlights
The company’s assets totalled $33.11 billion (2022: $30.14 billion). This resulted from a 600% jump in ‘Cash and cash equivalents’ closing at $4.02 billion.
Shareholder’s equity was $24.05 billion (2022: $20.04 billion), representing a book value per share of $28.26 (2022: $23.54).
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