Cement manufacturing firm Eagle Cement Corp. reported an 89 percent surge in net profit to P5.1 billion in the first nine months of 2021 from P2.7 billion in the comparable period last year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said it generated net sales of P16.2 billionin in January to September, 63 percent better than the corresponding period in 2020.

Eagle Cement said its revenues were buoyed by the double-digit growth in sales volume despite a decrease in average selling price of cement.

Gross profit grew 77 percent to P7.3 billion from P4.1 billion in the same period a year ago. EBITDA jumped 59 percent to P6.7 billion from P4.2 billion a year earlier.

For the third quarter alone, the company reached P5.2 billion in net sales, 28 percent higher than the P4.1 billion it made in the same quarter last year.

Gross profit amounted to P2.2 billion, a 24 percent growth from the previous year's figure. Net income slightly rose by 1 percent to P1.4 billion.

“We are pleased to report encouraging set of results amid the pandemic, much lower cement prices and increasing input costs," Eagle Cement President & CEO Paul Ang said.

Total assets at end-September rose by seven percent to P53.4 billion while total liabilities increased by 11 percent to P12.1 billion from their end-2020 levels.

Shareholder equity improved by seven percent to P41.2 billion. The company's current gearing remains healthy, with debt-to-equity and financial debt-to-equity ratios registering at 0.29 times and 0.13 times, respectively, still well below its loan covenant requirements.

Meanwhile, the company's Bulacan plant expansion, with its fifth cement mill, third packhouse, fifth cement silo and other supporting facilities, is fully completed.