Representatives of the Caribbean Cement Company are seen here during a tour of the Rockfort plant, Kingston, October 12. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Caribbean Cement Company Limited has supplied the market with less cement compared to last year, but made substantially more money per tonne sold, its nine-month financials show.

From 596,739 tonnes supplied to the market over nine months to September 30, Carib Cement grossed $5.49 billion or $9.20 per tonne.

But supplies were nine per cent or 61,549 tonnes below last year's output of 657,288 tonnes, which generated revenues of $5.08 billion for the company or $7.74 per tonne.

Much of the production shortfall, 45 per cent, was realised in the storm-battered third quarter, leading to concerns by the hardware trade that their profits would suffer with limited and sometimes no cement to sell.

Carib Cement had charged, however, that much of the shortage was artificially created by hoarding, but its own figures now show that it was bagging less of the product.

Said the company: "Cement, clinker and gypsum production were affected by the passage of Hurricane Dean." So too was its timetable for the completion of its Kiln 5 expansion project which has been pushed backed to the second quarter of 2008.

Faulty cement claims

The storm hit at category four strength in mid-August.

To make up for the shortage, the company said it turned to imports from regional sources.

Its profit for the three-month period was down to $112.8 million relative to the $153 million made in the comparative period last year when the company also paid out $100 million in faulty cement claims.

But Carib Cement claims that its sales volume of 187,312 tonnes in the third quarter represented 80 per cent of the total market, saying importers "took the trade by stock by running out of stock in September."

The company also said the negative impact on profits was diluted by an insurance settlement, but working capital to finance ongoing pro-grammes was challenging.

Bigger earnings

The company's balance sheet shows it was in a negative working capital position at September 30 with current assets of $2.4 billion outpaced by current liabilities by some $4.8 million.

Carib Cement's recorded revenue gains over the nine-month period, some of which would have flowed from markups on cement prices this year, went directly to the bottom line.

And, with no more cement claims from the faulty product released on the market in 2004/05, the bigger earnings fuelled a turnaround in Carib Cement's profit position, from a loss of $81 million in the 2006 nine-month period to $364.6 million or 43 cents per share, in the year under review.

Carib Cement said price mark-ups were to offset higher production costs linked to the falling Jamaican dollar, and higher energy costs.

Its parent Trinidad Cement Limited made TT$144.7 million (J$1.65 billion) during the same nine-month period.

Other pluses for Carib Cement were ISO 9001:2000 and the Bureau of Standards Jamaica plant certification mark obtained during the third quarter.

business@gleanerjm.com