Steppe Cement Share News (STCM)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Steppe Cement Ltd on Tuesday said pretax profit grew substantially in the first half of the year as more favourable pricing led to an improved margin.

In the six months to June 30, the Kazakhstan construction materials producer recorded a pretax profit of USD405,000, a significant multiplication of its USD5,000 profit the prior year.

The company's revenue increased to USD32.8 million from USD26.8 million with its gross margin widening to 32% from 27%.

Expenses increased slightly to USD2.8 million from USD2.2 million, while selling expenses increased more substantially to USD6.5 million from USD4.1 million.

Steppe's market share was 15.5%, up from 14.5%, with the expectation of achieving a market share of 17% for the full year.

"The Kazakh cement market grew at 5% during the first half of the year. Steppe Cement expects a market of about 9 million tonnes for the full year 2018 similar to 2017," the company said.

However, production is likely to slow as the year progresses.

"Overall production of all factories in Kazakhstan has increased by 14% to 4.8 million tonnes for the 2018 first half. This increase will most likely not be maintained in the second half," Steppe said.

Shares in Steppe Cement were down 0.8% at 25.30 pence on Tuesday.