May 1, 2024
Caribbean Cement Company Ltd (CCC) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024, reported a 12% increase in revenues totalling $7.62 billion compared to $6.80 billion in the corresponding three months last year. CCC highlighted, “this increase in revenue was driven by the continued strong domestic demand being experienced, and the Company’s capacity to supply the local market.”
Cost of sales amounted to $4.01 billion (2023: $5.50 billion), this represents a decrease of 27% year over year. Consequently, gross profit increased by 176% to $3.61 billion compared to $1.31 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023.
Operating expenses increased marginally to close at $672.66 million (2023: $670.20 million), while operating profit before interest expenses increased by 361% from $636.73 million in 2023 to $2.94 billion for the three months. As a result, other expenses for the first quarter amounted to $310.80 million, a 3% decrease relative to $319.33 million reported in 2023.
Operating profit for the three months amounted to $2.63 billion, a 728% increase relative to $317.40 million reported in 2023. Management noted, “This rise was mainly due to normalized operations compared to the prior period, which incurred significantly higher costs primarily from scheduled annual maintenance in January and February 2023.”
Finance income costs totalled $31.71 million, a 68% decrease from the corresponding period last year (2023: $98.50 million).
Profit before taxation for the first quarter amounted to $2.63 billion, a 1581% increase relative to $156.51 million reported in 2023.
Taxation charge for the three months was $701.84 million (Taxation credit 2023: $132.89 million). Net Profit for the year for the three months amounted to $1.93 billion, a 567% increase from the $289.40 million reported in 2023.
Consequently, Earnings Per Share for the three months amounted to $2.27 (2023: EPS: $0.34). The twelve-month trailing EPS was $8.48, and the number of shares used in these calculations was 851,136,591. Notably, CCC’s stock price closed the trading period on April 30, 2024, at a price of $57.99 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 6.84x.
Balance Sheet Highlights
The company’s assets totalled $35.94 billion (2023: $29.89 billion). This resulted mainly from a 239% uptick in ‘Cash and cash equivalents’ closing at $6.26 billion, maintaining a strong liquidity position.
Shareholder’s equity was $25.98 billion (2023: $20.25 billion), representing a book value per share of $30.52 (2023: $23.79).
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