Displaying items by tag: Mexico
GCC sales up 13.6% in first quarter
25 April 2018Mexico: Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) recorded a 13.6% increase in sales in the first quarter of 2018, with US sales up by 11.9% and Mexican sales up by 18.0%. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 46.0%, while its net income rose by 554.6% to US$11.3m.
GGC said that the increases reflect strong cement demand and favourable cement pricing environments in both the United States and Mexico, increased ready-mix demand in Mexico, the effect of Mexican Peso appreciation compared to the US Dollar, and strict control of operating expenses.
Enrique Escalante, GCC's CEO, said, "Our US operations are catching the tailwind from the strong market in 2017 and the benefit of relatively mild winter weather in some of our markets. In Mexico, sales volumes were above our expectations. Our EBITDA margin in Mexico reached an all-time record of 42.7% and US margins were 16.6%, the highest for a first quarter since the 2009 financial crisis."
Mexican cement market to grow by 2-3% in 2018 says Cemex
25 April 2018Mexico: Cemex has predicted that the cement sector in Mexico will grow by 2-3% during 2018. Fernando Gonzalez, CEO, explained that the growth would be due to an increase in residential and commercial construction. He noted that these segments would compensate for an expected reduction in infrastructure works.
Cemex to target acquisitions in India and Brazil
16 March 2018Mexico: Cemex’s chief executive officer (CEO) Fernando González says that the company is nearly ready to start considering acquisitions after a decade of asset sales and debt reduction. He told analysts at a conference in New York that the company will seek shareholder approval in April 2018 to issue new shares to raise capital, which it could eventually use along with debt and cash, according to Dow Jones.
The building materials producer plans to focus on cement operations in large emerging markets and on aggregates in developed markets. Major markets where Cemex doesn't have operations include India and Brazil and it would be interested in targeted these regions. The company has also striven to regain its investment-grade credit rating it held until 2008 when its earnings fell following its US$15.5bn purchase of Rinker.
US: Mexico’s Cemex says that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating whether the cement producer violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in relation to a new cement plant being built by Cemex Colombia at Maceo in Antioquia. Previously, the cement producer received a subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission in late 2016 as part of a probe also checking whether the FCPA had been breached.
Cemex says it is cooperating with both requests. However, it also said that it does not know how long either investigation will last or what impact the results of either investigation might have upon the company in terms of eventual sanctions.
In late September 2016 Cemex fired several senior staff members in relation to the Maceo project and its subsidiary’s chief executive resigned. This followed an internal audit and investigation into payments worth around US$20.5m made to a non-governmental third party in connection with the acquisition of the land, mining rights, and benefits of the tax free zone for the project.
Remote control cement plants for Cemex
13 March 2018Mexico: Cemex has announced that it has become the first company in the cement industry to successfully operate plants by remote control, from its central location in Monterrey, Nuevo León. According to the company, the Cemento Control Center (C3) operates 365 days a year, tracking live data from the operation of 14 cement plants, 25 kilns and 86 mills in Mexico. It also monitors a cement plant in Colombia and another in the US.
In a statement, Cemex said that the continuous monitoring of the system provides information on each stage of the production process, as well as the performance of the equipment installed in the cement plants. It allows the C3 operators to not only monitor the plants, but also to take immediate corrective actions, in coordination with local operations staff and with access to existing intelligent control systems. This helps to minimise any deviation from the objectives of safety, environmental control, efficiency and product quality.
"Cemex created the C3 system to take more effective advantage of the resources and technological innovation available through the company's global operating network," said the statement from Cemex. The company's vice president of operations, Edgar Ángeles, added that the company has applied the most modern technology to develop a unique system in the current cement industry. With the operation of C3, Cemex says that the plants have already seen a 50% reduction in the number of operational accidents as well benefits from immediate sharing of best practice and the generation of shared knowelege and expertise.
Elementia’s sales boosted by Mexican cement business in 2017
28 February 2018Mexico: Elementia’s sales benefitted from its Mexican cement business in 2017. Its net sales rose by 35% year-on-year to US$1.37bn in 2017 from US$1.02bn in 2016. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 24% to US$236m from US$191m.
Highlights of the company’s year included integrating Giant Cement’s assets into the company, the start-up and allocation of additional volume from the cement plant in Tula, Mexico and the expansion of the cement division in Costa Rica through the installation of a grinding plant that is expected to start operations towards the end of the first half of 2018.
Elementia’s Mexican cement division sales rose by 44% to US$236m from US$164m. However, the sales of its US division fell by 7% to US$231m from US$249m. The company blamed this on the year being a ‘transitional’ period where it conducted regular maintenance works that interrupted production.
Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua sales soar in 2017 due to US acquisition
16 February 2018Mexico: Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua’s (GCC) sales grew by 23.6% year-on-year to US$925m in 2017 from US$749m in 2016. The group attributed this to strong demand in both the US and Mexico, as well as the integration of the operations acquired in Texas and New Mexico at the end of 2016. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDA) rose by 32.3% to US$250m from US$189m.
In the US sales rose by 29.8% year-on-year to US$180m in the fourth quarter of 2017, representing 76% of the group’s consolidated net sales. The growth reflected higher cement sales volumes in the states of Texas, South Dakota, Minnesota, New Mexico and Colorado. Fourth quarter sales volumes also benefitted from favourable weather conditions throughout GCC’s area of operations. The most dynamic segments in the regions where GCC operates were oil well drilling, residential real estate and public-sector construction. For the year as a whole, excluding the operations acquired in 2016, cement volumes increased 2.1% in 2017.
In Mexico sales rose by 22.6% to US$58.4m in the fourth quarter of 2017. This was attributed to rising cement prices with growth in the mining and self construction sectors and the final stages of several industrial projects. For the year as a whole sales rose by 11.4%.
Cemex earnings drop in 2017 due to US market
09 February 2018Mexico: Cemex’s operating earnings have fallen in 2017 due to a lower contribution from the US and South America despite growth in Mexico and Europe. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 7% year-on-year to US$2.57bn in 2017 from US$2.75bn in 2016. Its net sales grew by 2% to US$13.7bn from US$13.4bn and its cement sales volumes remained stable at 68.5Mt. The cement producer also reported an unexpected loss in net income of US$105m in the fourth quarter of the year, which it blamed on taxes on other costs.
“Although 2017 was a challenging year… We had important headwinds during the year: underperformance in Colombia, Egypt and the Philippines as well as increased energy costs, mainly in Mexico. As we have done in the past, we focused on the variables we control to dampen these headwinds and we continued to deliver solid results,” said Fernando A Gonzalez, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cemex.
Tula plant temporarily closed
07 February 2018Mexico: Cruz Azul has been forced to partially close its cement plant in Tula, Hidalgo due to a lack of an active environmental clearance certificate. Personnel from the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection made an inspection of the facilities at the cement plant. When verifying the documentation, they found that it lacked the current authorisation issued by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. In this situation, the temporary partial closure of the plant was imposed as a safety measure.
Cruz Azul orders two mills from Fives
20 December 2017Mexico: The Cooperativa La Cruz Azul has ordered two raw meal grinding mills from France’s Fives. The first grinding unit, with a capacity of 280t/hr of raw meal, will be dedicated to the new clinker line no. 10 project to be installed at the Cruz Azul Hidalgo plant. The second one, with a capacity of 300t/hr of raw meal, will be installed in the Oaxaca Lagunas plant, as part of the new clinker line no. 5 project. Each grinding plant will be fitted with one FCB Horomill 4000mm grinding mill and one FCB TSV Classifier 6500mm. The deal, including the engineering, supply, construction and commissioning of the mills, was agreed in November 2017.