KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 3): Lafarge Malaysia Bhd’s share price fell 4.62% at mid-morning today, as the group said it expects to remain loss-making this year, after reporting a loss for the second quarter.

As at 10.55am, Lafarge dropped 15 sen to RM3.10, with 49,000 shares exchanging hands. At the current share price, Lafarge has a market capitalisation of RM2.76 billion.

Last Thursday, Lafarge said it is expecting to be loss-making in 2018, as the domestic market condition is expected to remain challenging in 2HFY18, with softening demand for cement and concrete. This would be the group's second consecutive year in the red.

Excess capacity in the market continued to put downward pressure on selling prices, despite energy costs showing signs of further increase, Lafarge said.

Lafarge reported a net loss of RM83.79 million for its second quarter ended June 30, 2018 (2QFY18), from RM44.09 million a year ago, no thanks to sluggish demand for its products.

Revenue came in at RM532.20 million versus RM531.77 million in 2QFY17, as higher contribution from its cement segment was offset by lower revenue from its aggregates and concrete segments.

The weaker 2Q led to Lafarge's cumulative net loss for the first half of FY18 (1HFY18) expanding to RM152.53 million, from RM93.02 million in the same period last year, though revenue only slid a marginal 1% to RM1.08 billion from RM1.09 billion.