High cost attributed to a scheduled annual maintenance exercise done during the first quarter sent operational earnings and six months profit falling for cement manufacturer Carib Cement at the end of June.

For the reporting period net profit, which amounted to $2.4 billion, was approximately 20 per cent below the $3 billion earned for the half-year mark in 2022. Operating earnings for the period also fell by about 24 per cent to total $3.6 billion when compared to the $4.8 billion seen for last year’s period.

Quarterly out-turns, on the other hand, went up by almost $705 million above the previous year’s quarter to close at $2.2 billion. Total assets for the period rose to $31.5 billion.

“For the second quarter, the group started to realise the benefits from its first-quarter investment in maintenance efforts, as evidenced by the operational efficiencies and operative cost containment experienced in the second quarter,” the company’s directors said in notes accompanying its latest financial, noting the increases as being 34 per cent above the corresponding quarter of 2022.

The country’s sole cement manufacturing company hopes to continue in taking advantage of the growth in construction activities across the country and said it remains optimistic about future performances, even as it undertakes the implementation of some requisite business strategies to ensure the sustainability of operations.

“The company remains optimistic about its financial position, buoyed by the large number of real estate developments slated to come on stream, especially in the parishes of Trelawny and St James,” the report signed by Chairman Parris Lyew-Ayee and Managing Director Yago Castro stated.

“Furthermore, recent pronouncements about the new high-end tourism developments in the eastern part of the island, which feature premium villas, will augur well for the company,” it continued.

With the advancement of infrastructural projects including the Southern Coastal Highway and the Morant Bay Urban Centre, the St Thomas and Portland corridor is primed to become the new exciting frontier for tourism development in the country, luring a number of new property and other real estate development in that part of the island and others adjoining.

The cement company, which has been benefiting greatly from the boom in construction activities, has through a multimillion-dollar concrete road programme also been integral in improving a number of road networks in various communities across the island.

“The company will continue to carry out its flagship concrete road solution programme, with several communities slated to benefit from the intervention in short order,” the report also said.