Displaying items by tag: Cemex
Cemex shows steady performance in first half of 2017
27 July 2017Mexico: Cemex’s consolidated net sales fell slightly to US$3.6bn year-on-year for the second quarter of 2017. However, on a like-for-like basis taking into account only ongoing operations and foreign exchange fluctuation, its net sales rose by 2%. This rise was attributed to positive currency variations in Mexico and the US, as well as higher sales volumes in Europe.
However, the group’s operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 8% to US$696m due to lower contributions from South, Central America and the Caribbean, Europe and Asia, Middle East and Africa regions, partially offset by higher contributions in Mexico and the US. Globally, Cemex sold 17.9Mt of cement in the second quarter of 2017, a 3% fall year-on-year. In the first half of the year it sold 33.9Mt of cement. Overall, Cemex’s net sales rose by 3% on a like-for-like basis to US$6.7bn in the first of 2017 and its operating EBITDA fell by 4% on a like-for-like basis to US$1.33bn.
“Our second quarter operating and financial performance was essentially in line with our expectations as of the first quarter: good results in Mexico, the US and Europe; increasing challenges in Colombia and Egypt, and to a much lesser extent the Philippines,” said Fernando A Gonzalez, chief executive officer (CEO).
By region, in Mexico Cemex’s net sales came to US$810m for the second quarter and US$1.53bn for the first half, a rise of 7% compared to the first half of 2016. In the US its net sales came to US$916m for the second quarter and US$1.73bn for the first half, a 1% fall year-on-year. In South & Central America and the Caribbean, sales brought in US$479m in the second quarter and US$958m in the first half, a fall of 6% on a like-for-like basis. In Europe the second quarter saw a 2% improvement in cement sales to US$934m, while the first half saw US$1.67bn of sales, a 3% like-for-like rise. In Asia, the Middle East and Africa, sales were US$327m in the second quarter and US$653m, a 7% like-for-like fall year-on-year.
US: Cemex USA says it invested over US$50m in 2016 on projects and improvements in cement plant operations and other facilities to help reduce environmental impact and conserve nearby wildlife. Four cement plants - Brooksville, Miami, Clinchfield and Victorville - achieved the Energy Star Certification from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for 2017. In 2016 all active Cemex cement plants in the US achieved the Wildlife Habitat Council's Conservation Certification, and several sites in California are currently working to attain that goal.
In May 2017 the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department awarded Cemex the 2017 Lone Star Land Steward Award for the Trans Pecos Ecoregion for its on-going commitment to sustainability and land stewardship at the El Carmen Nature Reserve. The company also received the Wildlife Habitat Council's Gold Tier Program of the Year for work at El Carmen in 2016. Other environmental initiatives by the company also include wildlife conservation efforts at various quarries in California.
Michel Andre appointed country president of Cemex UK
12 July 2017UK: Michel Andre has been appointed as the Country President for Cemex UK. He joins the UK subsidiary of the Mexican-based building materials producer after spending seven years as the Country President for Cemex France. Andre has worked for Cemex’s French business for 12 years with roles in strategic planning and its readymix business. Previous to this he worked for Lafarge in the US and France and was employed by Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
He has also served as a board member and then president of the Unicem Association France, the National Union of Quarrying and Building Materials Industries. His three-year term finished in June 2017.
Andre succeeds Jesús Gonzalez in the UK post. Gonzalez has been promoted to the executive team in Monterrey, Mexico as Executive Vice President Sustainability and Operations Development. His role covers health and safety, operations and technology, energy, sourcing, research and development and sustainability.
Mexico: A delegation of the Mexican housing development and promotion chamber (Canadevi) in Baja California has warned that construction companies are considering increasing imports of cement due to the high price of the material in the local market. Jose Luis Padilla, president of Canadevi in the state, said that the chamber had asked LafargeHolcim and Cemex to stop rising prices, according to the El Financiero newspaper. He added that the price of cement rose by 32% year-on-year in 2016, by 15% in January 2017 and by 12% in July 2017. Padilla also said that the chamber and building material firms had signed an agreement to prevent prices rising above the level of inflation.
Cemex USA cement plants in Florida, Georgia and California gain Energy Star Certification
22 June 2017US: Four Cemex USA cement plants have achieved the US Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star certification for 2017. The Clinchfield plant in Georgia has achieved certification for the 11th consecutive year, the Miami plant in Florida for the 7th consecutive year, the Victorville plant in California for the 6th consecutive year and the Brooksville plant in Florida for the 5th time.
"These plants follow initiatives each day to ensure they operate with sustainability in mind and lead the way in our industry. They serve as models for others to follow with their repeated recognition for their efforts. We are very proud of the work they've done to achieve Energy Star certification this year by maintaining these high standards," said Hugo Bolio, Executive Vice President, Cement Operations and Technology for Cemex USA.
Cemex expands Construrama retail network
19 June 2017Colombia: Cemex has opened its 300th store of its Construrama retail network. The network is present in 190 municipalities and it plans to reach 500 stores by 2020, according to the El Financiero newspaper. In 2016 the brand opened 130 branches in Mexico and 60 in Colombia. The network is also growing in other Latin American countries.
Colombia: The Office of the Attorney General is preparing to present charges against three individuals involved in the sale of property in Maceo, Antioquia to Cemex for a new cement plant project. They are Edgar Ramirez Martinez, the former deputy director of Planning at Cemex, Camilo Gonzalez Tellez, the former legal director of Cemex Colombia and Eugenio Correa Diaz, the representative of CI Calizas, which sold the property to the cement producer, according to the El Tiempo newspaper.
The former employees of Cemex allegedly paid US$13.7m to Correa, despite being aware of the fact that the property, which formerly belonged to the deceased businessman Jose Aldemar Moncada, was in the process of being expropriated over unpaid taxes. It is also alleged that the funds never reached the accounts of CI Calizas, having been primarily used to pay off debts of Aldemar Moncada.
Cemex USA terminals in San Diego and La Mirada achieve Energy Star Challenge for Industry status
01 June 2017US: Two Cemex USA terminals in California have achieved the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Energy Star Challenge for Industry status by reducing their energy consumption by more than 10% each. The San Diego terminal achieved a 12.2% reduction in 2016, compared to the prior year. The La Mirada terminal achieved a 23.2% reduction year-on-year. The Energy Star Challenge for Industry is a national call-to-action to improve energy efficiency by 10% within five years.
The La Mirada and San Diego terminals reduced their energy consumption by completing projects and executing strategies to improve their onsite energy intensity. Workers were educated on energy-management practices and procedures for the proper operation of plant equipment. Out-dated light bulbs at the terminals were replaced with more energy-efficient LED lighting. The process of enhancing lighting at the terminals continues in 2017, and workers at the terminals are focused on looking for more ways to save energy in the future. Cemex also plans to roll out programme to all of its logistics operations.
Dominican Republic: Alejandro Ramirez Cantu has been appointed as the president of Cemex Dominican Republic. Ramirez succeeds Carlos Emilio Gonzalez, who has held the position since 2011, according to the Diario Libre newspaper. Ramirez will also be responsible for the operations of Cemex in Bahamas and Haiti. He has worked for the building materials producer since 2000, managing operations in Thailand, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica.
Show US the infrastructure
17 May 20172017 has started more uncertainly for the US cement industry than 2016 did according to the latest data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Cement shipment data from just two months, January and February 2017, can only present a limited impression of the state of the industry. Yet the key trend to look for in Graph 1 is the growth in Midwestern US states against a decline in the Western ones. Previously in 2016 this region’s shipments sunk below those in the West in December and didn’t overtake them until the spring. This time round they’ve stuck closely and overtaken them already in February 2017.
Graph 1: Portland and blended cement shipments by US Census Bureau region for 2016 to February 2017. Source: USGS.
The Midwest’s cement shipments jumped by 21% year-on-year to 2.2Mt for those first two months. Buzzi Unicem concurred with this picture in the Midwest with its first quarter financial results this week, reporting a boost in deliveries in the region. HeidelbergCement agreed, reporting sales volumes increases in the north of the country and a decrease in the West. In that region the USGS data shows an 8% fall in shipments to 2.2Mt. HeidelbergCement blamed heavy rain and flooding in California and Oregon as the cause of the problems. Another potential reason that the USGS hints at are increasing imports of cement that it says have been rising faster than sales. For example, imports of cement to the US as a whole grew by 23.9% year-on-year to 0.81Mt in February 2017.
Overall though the situation for the larger cement producers has been subdued. Many of them blamed good weather in the first quarter of 2016 giving them a hard quarter to measure against in 2017. For example, LafargeHolcim’s sales volumes of cement fell by 4.5% in North America although it did report sales growth off the back of cement pricing and cost controls. HeidelbergCement may have looked good on paper following its integration of the Italcementi/Essroc assets but its cement volumes only grew by 1% in the period. Cemex too reported a similar scenario with falling sales volumes of 5% but growing sales revenue.
To put this in perspective, as the Portland Cement Association’s (PCA) chief economist Ed Sullivan says in the May 2017 issue of Global Cement Magazine, cement production in the US grew in 2016 and it is expected to continue growing in 2017 and 2018. Just like the start of 2016 (see GCW251) the potential for US construction growth in the year ahead is a quietly confident one but it isn’t assured.
Cemex points out that housing starts rose by 8% in the first quarter of 2017, as did construction spending in the industrial and commercial sector. However, it says that infrastructure spending fell by 9% in February 2017. Indeed this last point is an important one given that one of the major Trump campaign pledges in the 2016 presidential campaign was to build more infrastructure. As commentators in Washington DC including the PCA have asked: where is the Bill? Rightly, the PCA are not letting the lawmakers forget this during ‘Infrastructure week’ as the issue is discussed. The US cement industry needs this.
For further information on the US cement industry take a look at the May 2017 issue of Global Cement Magazine