Cement giant Conch sees H1 profits down 51%

BEIJING -- China's biggest cement producer by output - Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd - announced Wednesday its net profit plunged nearly 51 percent year-on-year in the first six months of 2012.

The sharp decline is a result of slower housing development and other fixed-asset investment hobbling amid the economic slowdown.

Conch's net profit slumped to 2.93 billion yuan ($462 million), down 50.96 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Operating revenue dropped 7.92 percent to 20.56 billion yuan, while earnings per share stood at 0.55 yuan in the first half of 2012, according to the internal financial reporting standards.

The sharp decline in net profit was mainly due to a macroeconomic downturn and shrinking demand for cement in the first half, the company said.

In the first six months of the year, China's economy expanded 7.8 percent year-on-year, down 1.8 percentage points from a year earlier, the slowest pace in almost three years, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

During the period, the country's fixed-asset investment rose 20.4 percent year-on-year to 15.07 trillion yuan, slowing by 5.2 percentage points, while investment in the nation's property sector increased 16.6 percent to 3.06 trillion yuan, down 16.3 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the NBS.

Data from the Digital Cement website showed China's cement output added just 5.48 percent year-on-year to reach 994 million tonnes in the first half of the year, down 14.12 percentage points from a year earlier.

Investment in the entire cement sector fell 5.42 percent to 61.9 billion yuan in the period.