Steppe reports higher profit but warns on cement demand

(Sharecast News) - Steppe reported a 7% increase in annual profit but warned demand for its cement could drop by 10% in 2020 because of the Covid-19 slowdown and reduced oil prices.
The Kazakhstan cement producer's net profit rose 7% to $9.7m (£7.6m) in the year to the end of December as turnover fell 3% to $79.9m. In Kazakh tenge, turnover rose 8%.

The company, which owns a cement manufacturing complex at Karaganda in central Kazakhstan, said profit was supported by higher cement prices in Kazakhstan and lower production costs, balanced by an 11% currency devaluation.

Steppe said the Kazakh cement market increased by 2% in 2019 to 8.9m tonnes but that demand had fallen in 2020 and was hard to predict. The total for 2019 showed a pickup from the first half when the market contracted.

"We expect a potential decrease of 10% as the effect of the lockdown and lower oil prices are felt across the economy," Chief Executive Javier del Ser Perez said. "However we are still confident to maintain the volumes over the summer."

The AIM-traded company's shares rose 5% to 26.5p at 10:18 BST.

Steppe said it expected imports and exports of cement to drop significantly after Kazakhstan closed imports from Iran to the west of the country and Uzbekistan stopped imports from Kazakhstan.