Displaying items by tag: Colombia

Colombia: The Cementos Argos board of directors has unanimously appointed Juan Esteban Calle as the new CEO of the company as of 1 April 2016. Calle will replace Jorge Mario Velasquez, who was recently named the new CEO of Grupo Argos.

Calle holds a bachelor's degree in business from EAFIT University (Medellin, Colombia) and has a master's degree in business administration (MBA) with emphasis in finance and economics from the University of Chicago.

Since January 2012, Calle has been the CEO of the Empresas Publicas de Medellin, a residential public utilities company with operations and subsidiaries across the Americas. Throughout his career he has held positions such as senior associate for Chase Manhattan Bank of New York (today JPMorgan Chase Bank), finance director for the Antioquia Department in Colombia, foreign investment director for Proexport in its Canada office, and investment advisor for the Bank of Montreal (today, BMO Financial Group), among others.

Calle is currently a member of the board of directors for Tigo-Une Comunicaciones, Empresas Varias de Medellin, Ticsa México and ENSA Panamá. He has also served on the board of directors for Isa, Isagen and Metro de Medellin, among others.

Colombia: Cemex's Colombian business has reported its plans for 2016. The company currently constructs housing in the country, which complements its primary activity of cement production. It has constructed 6000 houses in Colombia to date and now plans to double its income in this segment with the construction of 15,000 additional houses in the near future.

Cemex has also set-up a network of hardware stores called Construrama, of which there are now 220. The company noted the challenge in managing its distribution chain as it now sells more than 4000 products to a variety of clients. The company also plans growth for its concrete, infrastructure, housing and market development divisions in public sector projects and structuring. According to Cemex, the company has formed an alliance with the national government and administrations of municipalities, departments, associations and public institutions to achieve this goal.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has reported that it will reach US$2.61bn in revenue in 2015. Revenue was US$1.86bn in the first nine months of 2015, a 35% year-on-year increase. Colombia represented 88% of Cementos Argos' revenue in the nine months.

Colombia: As of 1 March 2016, the current President of Cementos Argos, Jorge Mario Velasquez, will be the new President of the entire Argos group in Colombia.

Velasquez, born in Bogota in 1960, will replace the retiring Jose Alberto Velez. Velasquez joined Cementos Argos in 1984 and, on his way up within the company, has served as General Director of Cementos del Nare, President of Cementos Paz del Rio and Vice President of Logistics at Cementos Argos. He became the latter's President in June 2012. Velez has said that the main challenges awaiting Velasquez are the integration of Odinsa into Grupo Argos, the consolidation of Pactia (the property fund established with Conconcreto) and the expansion of Cementos Argos and Celsia.

Colombia: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has received an order to build a cement clinker production line from Cementos Argos, the biggest cement producer in Colombia and one of the largest in the Caribbean. The new 4300t/day facility will be built in Sogamoso, around 200km north-east of the capital Bogotá, in the province of Boyacá. The contract is worth around Euro100m.

ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions is supplying all components for clinker production as well as quality assurance and monitoring systems. Startup of the line is planned for the end of 2017.

Jens Michael Wegmann, CEO of the Industrial Solutions business area, said, "With our highly-efficient cement plants we are contributing to a resource-friendly infrastructure expansion across the world. To even better leverage the growth potential of the emerging economic regions in the future we are pushing forward the integration and regionalisation of our operations worldwide."

The main components are a 1200t/hr primary crusher for limestone, a 500t/hr secondary crusher for raw material and a 40,000t capacity circular blending bed. The raw material will be ground in a QUADROPOL QMR2 roller mill with a throughput of 355t/hr and stored in a 7000t homogenising silo.

The kiln line comprises a five-stage, single-string preheater with PREPOL AS-MSC calciner, a POLFLAME-VN rotary kiln with sinter zone burner and a POLYTRACK clinker cooler. A further QUADROPOL QMK2 roller mill with a throughput of 26t/hr of coal will be supplied for preparing the fuel. A POLCID process control system and a POLAB APMplus laboratory automation system will be installed for quality monitoring and control.

During construction and commissioning, ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions will provide construction management services, consulting services and supervision. During operation of the plant the company will provide assistance in the form of operation and maintenance support services as well as training of operating personnel.

Colombia: Cementos Molins has signed a deal with Grupo Colombiano Corona for US$370m to jointly produce cement in Colombia. The firms will launch a 1.35Mt/yr cement production plant in Colombia in the middle of 2018.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has been awarded the level two gender equality management system certification SGIG Sello Equipares from Colombia's Ministry of Labour.

Cementos Argos was awarded the certification due to its affirmative action programme and provision of equal opportunities. A total of 12 women work in Cementos Argos and 14 more are currently in training to drive cement mixer trucks. Sello Equipares is an initiative by the Ministry of Labour, which is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (PNUD) and Colombia's Presidential Adviser on Equality for Women. The programme is designed to transform organisational structure and form a workplace culture that is free from gender discrimination and violence.

Colombia: The Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) has selected Cementos Argos one of the three most sustainable cement companies in the world. For the third consecutive year, the company was included in the World and Emerging Markets Indices.

For the economic dimension, Argos obtained the highest score in the industry, nearly doubling its average score. It was also the best-placed company for aspects such as transparency, compliance and conduct, risk management and supply chain. For the social dimension, it got the best score for human capital development and social reporting. Finally, for the environmental dimension, it scored best in biodiversity, water-related risks and international production standards.

"This recognition truly reflects Argos' spirit. The conviction of doing work that is carried out comprehensively and delicately in order to find a balance between social, economic and environmental aspects and, through our efforts, taking the lead in building a better society in the countries in which we operate," said Jorge Mario Velásquez, Cementos Argos' CEO.

Puerto 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.

Colombia: 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.