Jamaica Caribbean Cement Company slashed the cost formerly associated with leasing of Kiln 5 and Mill 5, from Trinidad Cement after acquiring direct ownership of the assets by $2 million per annum.
Data disclosed by Jamaica’s sole cement producer in their nine months interim report showed that excluding foreign exchange gains or loss that there was a $500 million savings in the overall cost associated with the two items formerly leased.
The equipment lease ended in April 2018 when both parties agreed to the ending of the arrangement leading the Jamaican company agreeing to purchase same. The interim figures show finance cost excluding foreign exchange loss rose to $227 million up sharply from just $11 million in 2017, in the quarter and $299 million versus $4 million year to date. Depreciation and amortisation cost rose to $342 million from $132 million in 2017 and for the nine months to $808 million from $400 million in 2017. The net effect is that the company enjoyed a savings of $500 million for the quarter or $2 billion per year.
A $464 million foreign exchange loss hit the results for the September quarter pulling the strong increase in operating profit of 44 percent to $1.2 billion from $836 million into lower net profit of $305 million than the $748 million generated for the prior year’s period. For the nine months to September, profit fell percent to $1.3 billion from $1.8 million in 2017.
