|
By Katrina Mennen A. Valdez, Reporter
HOLCIM Philippines Inc. will increase its
capital expenditure this year to finance the rehabilitation of its
facilities around the country, the listed giant firm announced at
the annual stockholders’ meeting Tuesday.
Ian Thackwray, chief operating officer of the
company, said the company will infuse a total of P2 billion this
year, “way bigger than last year’s P1.4 billion, to improve
[our] efficiency in terms of facilities and services.”
Thackwray said the bulk of the 2008 capex will
be spent on repairing its mothball plants in Bulacan, Lugat in
Misamis Oriental and Davao.
“[We] have to prepare [our] Mindanao plants,
especially [those] in Misamis Oriental, since Cagayan de Oro is
enjoying a high level of construction activities. Holcim wants to
serve the market demand there,” he said.
The cement manufacturer has a total capacity of
6.9 million tons with an actual capacity of 5.6 million tons.
Despite the soaring price of the peso, Thackwray
said the firm still plans to export 25 percent of its total
production to Malaysia and Mauritius. “[We] want to take advantage
of this opportunity to export,” he said, seeing that the two
countries are “experiencing a construction boom and China’s
capability to export cement is no longer as strong as the previous
years.”
Thackwray said the company faces problems in
pricing and low demand. But Holcim, the second biggest cement player
in the country, has yet to announce any price increase this year
despite the rising price of coal, which accounts for 40 percent of
its operational costs.
Holcim cement is currently priced at P195 per
40-kilo bag.
Holcim Philippines also announced a P2.2-billion
net income for 2007, up by 47 percent from the previous year,
attributing this to an economy made robust by consistent government
spending on infrastructure projects and overseas Filipino workers
putting their money on buying houses.
|
