Sumitomo Osaka Cement reports strong quarterly rise

Japan's Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co Ltd reported a 26.8 per cent YoY rise in operating profit to JPY4.43bn (US$35.7m) over the April-June quarter.

Sales during the period climbed to JPY56.78bn, up six per cent over the same quarter of last year.

Earnings per share rose to JPY7.68, up from last year's JPY5.69 for the same quarter.

The cement producer has announced it is to raise capacity at its Kochi plant in western Japan by some 0.2Mta, with completion scheduled for 2017.