Siam Cement Public Company Limited, or SCC, has maintained its investment budget for this year at 30 billion baht, after capital expenditure of 11.064 billion baht in the first half of the year, mainly in the cement and building materials business group, such as cost reduction and operational efficiency projects, with another portion in the chemicals business, which has a project to increase ethane gas feedstock at the LSP plant in Vietnam. Mr. Thammasak Sethaudom, President and CEO, disclosed on an earnings call that in the first half of the year, SCC had sales revenue of 259.57 billion baht and a profit for the period of 17.758 billion baht, and excluding special items, which were mostly inventory valuation adjustments, profit for the period would be 12.649 billion baht. Adjusted Cash EBITDA this year is likely to be higher than last year and above the target of approximately 55 billion baht, after reaching about 42.913 billion baht in the first half. For the project to increase ethane gas feedstock at the LSP plant in Vietnam, construction of the gas storage tanks is now more than 60% complete, and once finished it is expected to help reduce costs by 200 to 300 million dollars per year. However, the company has now halted operations at the LSP plant because of insufficient feedstock and is accelerating the switch to ethane gas feedstock instead, to help reduce dependence on feedstock from the Strait of Hormuz and to obtain raw material costs cheaper than naphtha.
The Siam Cement Public Company LimitedSCC maintains its 30 billion baht investment budget and reports H1 profit of 17.758 billion baht with Adjusted Cash EBITDA tracking above the 55 billion baht target.
