KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 21): Hume Cement Industries Bhd’s share price touched a seven-year high on Wednesday after the cement producer announced its best quarterly earnings in two decades.

The counter rose as much as 5.44% or 16 sen RM3.10, before closing at RM3.09, still up 15 sen or 5.1%, with 2.91 million shares changing hands. In contrast, the country’s benchmark index FBM KLCI was 0.2% lower.

Shares of Hume Cement have surged 37% so far this year, tracking strong gains of other building material companies as investors bet on rising demand from a slew of infrastructure projects planned.

The company, 71%-controlled by the Hong Leong Group, recorded its fifth consecutive quarter of earnings growth in the quarter ended Dec 31, 2023 with 13-fold year-on-year jump in net profit to RM59.06 million, driven by higher selling prices and sales volume.

That would be Hume Cement’s best quarterly performance since the Jan-March quarter of 2003. Revenue for the latest quarter meanwhile rose by 26.24% to RM322.25 million from RM255.27 million over the same period in 2022.

For its first six months, Hume Cement returned to the black with net profit of RM107.39 million, or 20.21 sen per share, versus a net loss of RM7.57 million or 1.5 sen per share in the same period a year earlier. First-half revenue climbed 36.11% to RM628.91 million from RM462.06 million.