Cairo – Mubasher: South Valley Cement Co on Sunday posted a 53% year-on-year drop in profits for the first quarter of 2017, due to increased costs and a decline in the re-evaluation of profits from investments.

The Egyptian company achieved profits of EGP 20.10 million in the three months ended March, compared to EGP 42.85 million in the corresponding period of 2016, according to a bourse statement.

South Valley’s cement sales increased to EGP 261.55 million in Q1-17 from EGP 254.80 million in Q1-16, while the cost of sales rose to EGP 226 million compared to EGP 204.7 million in the same period of 2016.

The company noted that the re-evaluation of its profits from investments, which are estimated based on the fair value, fell to EGP 282,000, compared to EGP 19.9 million in the same period of the year before.

The cement company logged profits of EGP 104.14 million in the three months ended December 2016, against losses of EGP 1.83 million in the corresponding period of 2015.