Displaying items by tag: Cementos Argos
Cementos Argos launches brand in Puerto Rico
09 September 2015Puerto Rico: Colombia's Cementos Argos has launched its brand in Puerto Rica following the purchase of a cement terminal in May 2015.
"Through this new receipt, storage and distribution terminal, we are making all of our experience, knowledge and innovation available to the local market. All of these elements together, in combination with our personalised technical advice and industrial professionalisation programmes, make up Argos' value promise: Support and accompaniment," says Mauricio Ossa, the vice president for Cementos Argos' Caribbean and Central American regional division.
On 1 May 2015 Argos took over the management of the terminal and began an integration to efficiently align the new operation with its existing structure and thus ensure unification processes and services. The terminal boosts the creation of synergies with the company's existing operations, further driving trading activities that were already on the rise.
"Puerto Rico complements our existing logistics platform, allowing us to efficiently interconnect strategic production assets with our main markets, providing us with an enhanced level of operational flexibility that fits in perfectly with our strategy," said Ossa.
Cementos Argos helped by rising capacity, better conditions and exchange rate effects in first half
27 August 2015Colombia: In the first half of 2015, Cementos Argos recorded revenues of US$1.09bn, 26% more than in the same period in 2014. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were US$210m, 31% higher than during the first half of 2014.The company sold 14% more cement in the first half of 2014 compared to the first half of 2014, with sales rising to 6.8Mt.
Jorge Mario Velásquez, Cementos Argos' CEO, said, "The consolidated results of the first half of the year show the good individual performance of our business segments and of our growth and market diversification strategy. Thanks to this, Argos is now recording more than 60% of its revenues in US Dollars or currencies closely tied to the US Dollar, which is a situation that puts us in a privileged position given the current circumstances."
In Colombia, Cementos Argos obtained revenues of US$403m, 13% more than in the first half of 2014. During the quarter, the expansion of the Rioclaro Plant became operational, adding 0.9Mt of installed capacity. Its EBITDA in the country was US$91m, which was an improvement of 15% year-on-year.
In the United States an increase in government expenditure, the increase in construction licenses and the highest housing construction levels seen in the last seven years all contributed to an EBITDA of US$49m in the first half, an 89% rise compared to the same period last year.
New innovation centre for Cementos Argos
25 August 2015Colombia: Cementos Argos will open a new concrete and cement innovation centre on 26 August 2015. The US$9.8m centre was developed in alliance with the Colombian government and Universidad Eafit. Jorge Mario Velasquez, president of Cementos Argos, has stated that the centre will strengthen and add value to the company's production chain.
Argos Panama joins reforestation programme
02 July 2015Panama: According to Esmerk Latin American News, as part of its sustainability and environmental responsibility programme, Colombia's Cementos Argos, via its local subsidiary Argos Panama, has joined the 'Alianza por el Millon' (Alliance for a Million) project that seeks to reforest 10,000km2 of land in Panama over the next 20 years.
The project is promoted by local nature conservation agency, Asociacion Nacional para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza (Ancon) and is also supported by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), the Ministry of Farming Development (MIDA), the Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Chamber in Panama (CCIAP) and the association of reforesting companies in Panama, Anarap. Argos Panama has pledged to provide around US$100,000 to reforest some 100,000m2 of forest over the next five years. It is estimated that about 200km2/yr of forest is lost in Panama due to de-forestation.
Colombia: Jose Mario Velazquez, president of Cementos Argos, has confirmed the firm's intention to start operations in markets in Chile and Peru. Grupo Argos is already present in the US, Haiti, Honduras, Panama and Puerto Rico.
Colombia: Cementos Argos' net profit rose by 3.3% year-on-year to US$29m in the first quarter of 2015, which ended on 31 March 2015, due to increased sales in the US. The company posted an increase in income despite higher sales costs.
Its consolidated income rose by 28% to US$630m, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped by 18% to US$121m, the highest in the company's history. The increases were due principally to growth in the US, where cement income rose by 31% to US$264m.
"Today, 60% of Cementos Argos' income is generated outside of Colombia," said chief executive Jorge Mario Velasquez. "Added to the solid results in all our operations, dispatched volumes and generated EBITDA, we can be optimistic about 2015."
Costs for the company rose by 33.3% year-on-year to US$469m in the first quarter because of bad weather in the US and increased transportation costs in Colombia caused by a brief truckers' strike.
Meanwhile, Jaime Hill Tinoco, president of Holcim Colombia, has confirmed the company's upcoming projects, which include the second stage of the connection between Puente Aereo (Terminal 2) and the new terminal at El Dorado airport in Bogota, La Felicidad shopping centre and a residential development in Madrid (Cundimarca). Hill said that Holcim will install plants at the building sites and added that it will also supply cement for the construction of a Grupo Carso mall in Bogota.
With regards to infrastructure projects, Hill said that Holcim is participating in the construction of the Bogota-Villavicencio road and in the second section of the Ruta del Sol road project. He added that the expansion of infrastructure initiatives would benefit the cement sector, improving the transport of material.
In January - March 2015, Holcim Colombia posted a sales increase of 5%, below the national industry's average growth rate of 7.5%. Hill said that the difference was due to the truckers' strike, which forced distribution to be halted for a week. The company has forecast a 5% sales rise by the end of 2015, representing 15% of the 12.5Mt tonnes of cement that the industry expects to produce during the year. By 2020, it is expected that Colombia will produce 15Mt/yr of cement.
Puerto Rico: Cementos Argos has purchased a 60% stake for US$18m in Wetvan Overseas, a company that controls a cement terminal in Puerto Rico. The remaining 40% belongs to Grupo Vicini, a Dominican business group holding investments in the Caribbean and Central America. The acquisition will give Argos a 15% market share in Puerto Rica.
"With this transaction, we are entering a new market that is closely tied to the US economy, that currently consumes close to 650,000t/yr and whose growth perspectives are being driven by the latent recovery and the new programs aimed at stimulating investment in Puerto Rico. The acquisition strengthens our position as leader in the region," said Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Argos.
With the new purchase Argos increases its presence in the Americas with operations in Antigua, Colombia, Curacao, Dominica, the US, Haiti, Honduras, French Guiana, Panama, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Saint Martin, Saint Thomas and Suriname.
Cementos Argos records ‘historic results’ in 2014
26 March 2015Colombia/US: Cementos Argos recorded 'historic' results in terms of both income and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2014. Income grew to US$2.9m, a year-on-year rise of 17%, while EBITDA hit US$534m, a rise of 8%. The company reported record cement sales of 12.5Mt. Its net profit went up by 59%.
The company's improved performance can, in large part, be attributed to Cementos Argos' enlarged footprint in the United States, where it increased cement production capacity by 107% year-on-year in 2014. The company is now the second-largest cement produer in the southeastern US and the country's second-largest concrete producer. Its strong performance is expected to continue, with the Portland Cement Association (PCA) anticipating year-on-year cement consumption growth of 12% in 2015.
"We see the next decade as the period in which Cementos Argos will see even greater rewards from the largest investments ever made by a Colombian company in the United States, which, jointly, reached a value of more than US$2.2bn," said Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Cementos Argos. "These investments were consistent with our coherent strategy that was carried out with a great degree of discipline and at an opportune moment by taking advantage of a favourable exchange rate."
The company has also consolidated its presence in Central America and the Caribbean, after acquiring new assets in French Guiana for Euro50m and successfully integrating its operations in Honduras. As this is a region that receives a lot of remittances with currencies that are mostly tied to the US Dollar and the drop in oil prices further favours its economies, the countries in the region will also benefit from the upward trend of the North American economy.
Additionally, in Colombia, the company kept its leading position in a dynamic market driven by housing and infrastructure construction. Cementos Argos is participating in more than 70% of the infrastructure projects being carried out within the country and in 60% percent of the free homes programme being implemented by its national government.
Colombia competition investigation to end soon
11 March 2015Colombia: Colombia's Superintendent of Industry and Commerce (SIC) is expected to issue a final ruling on its on-going competition investigation into the local cement industry. SIC intends to announce its findings by the middle of 2015 according to comments SIC head Pablo Felipe Robledo del Castillo made to local press. Meanwhile, Robledo also said he plans to present a bill on 16 March 2015 that would strengthen the sanctions for anticompetitive practices in Colombia.
"This rule will allow us to increase the sanctions above the nominal amount of US$25m, the current maximum, by adding percentages of a company's revenues or equity, in order to bolster the penalties," said Robledo.
SIC announced in late 2013 that it was investigating whether executives at Colombian cement companies had colluded to inflate cement prices in country since as early as 2010. The investigation targeted 14 current and former top directors at five firms, including Cementos Argos, Cemex and Holcim.
Cementos Argos’ net profit up 58.8% in 2014
26 February 2015Colombia: Cementos Argos' net profit rose by 58.8% in 2014 compared to 2013 due to an increase in domestic sales and sales in the US, which are expected to continue in 2015. Profit was up to US$145m compared to US$73.7m in 2013.
"In our opinion, 2015 will be a year when construction and demand for cement will maintain their positive dynamic," said CEO Jose Alberto Velez. He highlighted Colombian government spending on public housing and highways. "We project that volumes will grow by a high rate in infrastructure and a medium rate in housing."
For its US division, Cementos Argos is 'very optimistic' and anticipates doubling 2014's US$68m in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). Velez said the company estimates EBITDA in the region will reach US$120 – 130m in 2015. Operating income was up by 16.8% to US$2.9bn in 2014, while total EBITDA was up by 8.4% to US$534m. Cement sales were up by 8% in 2014 to 12.5Mt. In 2014 Cementos Argos made acquisitions valued at US$785m and invested US$230m in expansion and modernisation.