Displaying items by tag: Colombia

Colombia/Thailand: Cementos Argos has held its position in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the fourth consecutive year. Cementos Argos was featured as the most sustainable cement company in the world after obtaining the best score in the construction materials sector. The Colombia-based materials producer was listed along with Thailand’s Siam Cement.

"The permanence in this index confirms our business model, in which we start with sustainability and innovation as pillars of the strategy to create value for our customers, shareholders, communities, employees, and other stakeholders,” said Juan Esteban Calle, CEO of Cementos Argos.

Argos obtained the best score among the following variables: Biodiversity, Operational Eco efficiency, Water related risks, Social Reporting, Labour Practice Indicators and Human Rights, Tax Strategy, Corporate Citizenship and Philanthropy, Human Talent Development and Talent Attraction and retention. In addition to being included in the Global Index, Cementos Argos was recognised in Emerging Markets for the fourth consecutive year.

Each year about 2500 global companies, listed on the stock exchange, belonging to about 59 economic sectors, are invited to participate in the DJSI.

Colombia: Cementos Argos’ net income has risen by 27% year-on-year to US$96.5m in the first half of 2016 from US$75.9m in the same period of 2015. Its revenue rose by 26.5% to US$1.51bn from US$1.20bn and its cement sales volumes rose by 2% to 6.98Mt from 6.84Mt. The company’s growth in revenue was driven by growing sales in the US.

“The disciplined execution of our internationalisation strategy has allowed us to continue obtaining good results, especially in markets such as the US, a country that keeps representing opportunities for Argos’s sustainable growth and that, added to our other geographies’ performance, enables us to continue contributing to the development of the countries and territories where we operate, through the construction of roads, bridges, homes and other projects in which the dreams of millions of people are materialized,” said Juan Esteban Calle, the CEO of Cementos Argos.

By region the cement producer reported that sales volumes fell by 14.8% to 2.92Mt in Colombia along with a slight fall in sales revenue. In the US its cement sales volumes grew by 29% to 2Mt and its sales revenue rose by 19.7% to US$700m. In the company’s Caribbean and Central American division its cement sales volumes rose by 6% to 2.52Mt and its sales revenue rose by 3.7% to US$283m.

Colombia: Cementos San Marcos has ordered a vertical roller mill to grind coal from Loesche. The order follows a previous purchase of a LM 35.2+2 mill to grind cement. The new coal mill will replace an existing smaller mill and reuse its foundation. The classifier and the plant ducting equipment will also be part of the contract. The cement plant was designed as a two-phase project to start a conservative market entry with the aim to more than double production capacity to meet market needs within a short period of time. The new coal mill fits into phase two of this progression.

Colombia: Cementos Argos plans to close its oil well cement production plant at San Gil in Santander. The closure follows falling demand for this type of cement caused by falling global oil prices. The National Construction Material Industry Workers' trade union Sutimac has requested that the cement producer transfer its 75 employees at the San Gil plant to other parts of the business, according to the El Colombiano newspaper. The union hopes that Cementos Argos will repeat its recent transfer of workers from the now-closed Sabanagrande, Atlantico factory to its plants in Cartagena, Tolu and Antioquia.

Colombia: Cement producers are reacting to a boom in infrastructure projects in Colombia by increasing production and upgrading existing production capacity. Demand for ordinary Portland cement is expected to grow in the short-term due to the government's 4G roads programme and the growth of the housing sector. Current expansion projects in the country include Cementos Argos’ new 1.4Mt/yr plant at Sogamoso in Boyaca and Cemex’s 1Mt/yr cement plant at Maceo in Antioquia.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has reported that its revenue rose by 34% year-on-year to US$740m in the first quarter of 2016 from US$553m in the same period in 2015. Its net income rose by 27% to US$33.4m from US$26.4m. The company attributed the gains to ‘healthy’ sales volumes in all of its markets with a particular emphasis in the US.

By region Cementos Argos saw its cement sales volumes rise by 47.3% to 935,000t in the US led by growth in the Carolinas, Alabama and Georgia. In Colombia its cement volumes fell by 17.1% to 1.48Mt due to lower growth in the central region of the country. Despite this the company increased its revenue in this territory in the quarter. In its Caribbean and Central American region the cement producer reported a rise of 14.4% to 1.11Mt in its cement sales volumes.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has launched energy saving measures that could contribute close to 10% of the energy saving goals of the Colombian national government. The cement producer has joined the energy savings campaign promoted by the government by taking additional measures at its plants and offices that can help conserve this important resource.

Cementos Argos intends to deliver excess energy from its self-generation plants of about 30MW to the domestic electrical network and limit the use of its 16 cement mills during peak hours, which will represent savings of about 38MW. In addition it will maximize its use of flexitime and day work to limit the use of electrical energy at its administrative offices. With these measures the company hopes to save the equivalent of the consumption of close to 100,000 homes per day and of close to 130,000 homes during peak hours.

“We are convinced that by joining our efforts, we can multiply results. That is why, if all companies and families put their best foot forward, we can all contribute to energy saving and create habits that allow us to preserve resources that are fundamental to our planet’s sustainability,” said Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Cementos Argos.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has reported that its net consolidated income rose by 83% year-on-year to US$556m in 2015 from US$305m in 2014. Its revenue rose by 40% to US$7.91bn from US$5.67bn. The rise in profit was attributed to an increase in market profitability and operational effectiveness.

“The record-setting results obtained in 2015 are the results of a well-planned coherent work during the last decade aimed at transforming a local company into a multinational player devoted to the cement and concrete business,” said Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Cementos Argos.

Overall cement production volumes for the Colombia-based multinational building materials producer rose by 14% to 14.3Mt in 2015. Cement production volumes rose by 13% to 6.2Mt in Colombia. Cement production volumes rose by 20% to 3.4Mt in the US and by 21% to nearly 4Mt in the company’s Caribbean and Central American division.

Cementos Argos also noted that it completed its US$125m expansion of its Rioclaro Plant in 2015. The upgrade has increased the plants production capacity by 0.9Mt/yr.

Colombia: Camilo Restrepo has been appointed the Vice President of the Caribbean and Central Region for Cementos Argos. He replaces Mauricio Ossa, who recently became president of the Colombia construction company Odinsa.

Restrepo was educated at the University of Maryland and is currently completing MBA studies at Emory University's Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, US. He joined Cementos Argos in 2005 as a research and development analyst. He became the Vice President of Innovation in 2012.

Colombia: FLSmidth has signed a contract with Cementos Argos S.A. for a new OK 33-4 cement mill system to be installed at its cement plant in Sogamoso, Boyac, Colombia. This contract marks the fourth OK mill purchased by Cementos Argos. The mill system will include cement storage, Ventomatic packing plant, MAAG gear, Airtech filters and auxiliary equipment.