Mexico: Cemex has grown its profit in 2016, reporting that its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) has risen by 6% year-on-year to US$2.75bn from US$2.59bn in 2015. On a like-for-like basis adjusted for investments, divestments and currency fluctuations it rose by 15%. Its net sales fell by 3% to US$13.4bn from US$13.8bn, although on a like-for-like basis they rose by 4%. Sales volumes of cement remained stable at 66.7Mt. The company hailed a 10-year high in net income for 2016 and said that sales had increased on a like-for-like basis in the fourth quarter due to higher prices and higher volumes in Mexico, the UK and Germany.

“2016 was a very good year for Cemex. Despite continued volatility and uncertainty in the markets, we were able to deliver strong underlying operational and financial results by remaining focused on the variables that we control,” said Fernando A Gonzalez, chief executive officer of Cemex.

By region Cemex saw its net sales rise in both real-terms and on a like-for-like basis to US$2.86bn from US$2.84bn. It said that cement volume growth during the quarter and full year 2016 was mainly driven by the industrial and commercial, formal housing and self-construction sectors. In the US net sales remained static at US$3.67bn but they rose on a like-for-like basis. The company said that construction spending for the cement-intensive segments in the industrial and commercial sector grew by 1% in 2016, reflecting growth in the lodging and office segments, offsetting a decline in energy, agriculture and manufacturing. It also noted growth in the infrastructure spending in the last quarter of 2016 following the US presidential election.

In South and Central America and the Caribbean net sales fell by 9% to US$1.73bn from US$1.89bn. Cemex noted a flat market for cement sales volumes in Colombia in 2016 and high competition in a ‘soft demand’ market. In Europe net sales fell by 5% to US$3.3bn from US$3.43bn. Here, cement sales volumes fell in Spain and Poland through the year. However, sales volumes rose by 7% in the UK due in part to higher sales of blended cement that resulted from fly ash scarcity. Sales volumes in Germany remained flat in 2016 but the market picked up in the second half of the year supported by the residential sector. Finally, the group’s Asia, Middle East and Africa division reported that its net sales fell by 7% to US$1.54bn for US$1.65bn with a significant dip of 14% in sales volumes of cement in the fourth quarter of the year although volume remained flat in the year as a whole. The Philippines suffered from poor weather towards the end of the year although Cemex noted that cement demand weakened in the second half of the year in conjunction with the transition to a new government. In Egypt, government infrastructure spending drove cement demand.