Displaying items by tag: Colombia

Colombia: Cementos Argos reported first-half sales of US$6.71bn for 2023, up by 25% year-on-year. Wet weather in the US and a slowing residential construction market in Colombia contributed to a 2.7% drop in cement sales to 7.9Mt. The company’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 45% to US$1.3bn, while its net profit rose by 56% to US$179m.

President Juan Esteban Calle said "In the first half of 2023 we achieved relevant milestones that demonstrate our commitment to generating value for our shareholders and other stakeholders. The progress in the execution of our share price recovery initiative, the growth in revenues and the expansion in the profitability margins of the businesses in our main markets motivate us to continue working every day to generate value for all our stakeholders."

Colombia: Cemex says that its Santa Rosa cement grinding plant is the first unit in its South, Central America and the Caribbean (SCAC) region to attain water self-sufficiency. The plant independently meets its water requirements using a 9000m³ reservoir, constantly replenished thanks to rainwater, runoff, and water circulation devices. The move aligns with the company's Water Management Roadmap, part of its Future in Action program. The achievement takes Cemex closer to its 2030 target of reducing freshwater consumption in its cement operations by 20%.

Colombia: Empresa Colombiana de Cementos has appointed Martha Patricia Quintero Valderrama as its director general. She succeeds Juan Martínez in the post, according to Valora Analitik. The company is a joint venture between Spain-based Cementos Molins and Corona. It operates the Alión brand.

Quintero has worked for Alión as its commercial director since 2018. Prior to this she worked for Polpaico in Chile and spent over 20 years with LafargeHolcim and its associated companies in Colombia. She is a trained civil engineer from the University of Cartagena. She also holds postgraduate qualifications from the EAN University and Tecnológica del Caribe.

Colombia: Cementos Argos sold 3.9Mt of cement during the first quarter of 2023, down by 0.6% year-on-year. This contributed to a 12% rise in its consolidated revenues to US$721m. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 42% to US$127m.

President Juan Esteban Calle said "In the first quarter of the year we experienced a stable market dynamic in most of the territories in which we are present, sequential improvements in costs, especially in fuels, energy and, in some cases, raw materials and mixed macroeconomic signals that keep us optimistic about medium-term trends." He added "Beyond the constant challenging conditions, we continue to take forceful steps toward our goal of creating value for the company, our investors, customers and other stakeholders."

Colombia: A criminal court has found former Cemex Colombia vice president Édgar Ramírez Martínez and fellow former director Eugenio Correa Díaz guilty of fraud, according to El Espactador newspaper. The court found that Ramírez Martínez had committed unfair administration, illicit enrichment and falsification of a private document in the process of obtaining land for use as a quarry to supply its Maceo cement plant in Antioquia. It found that Correa Díaz had committed illicit enrichment, money laundering and falsification of a private document while serving as an intermediary in the same process. Ramírez Martínez received a prison sentence of 15 years and one month, while Correa Díaz received a sentence of 20 years.

Cemex Colombia obtained the land in question during the administration of the estate of deceased embezzler José Aldemar Moncada. The court found that it had defrauded the true owners, a local family, in order to include it in Moncada's asset forfeiture prior to sale to Cemex Colombia by Correa Díaz.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has introduced a share price recovery programme at the same time it has released its financial results for 2022. It plans to spend around US$50m on a share buy-back program. Its sales revenue rose by 24% year-on-year to US$2.37bn from US$1.92bn. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 7% to US$422m from US$396m. However, its net income dropped by 14% to US$81.7m from US$95.5m due to mounting financial expenses. Its cement sales volumes fell by 3.7% to 16.2Mt in 2022 from 16.8Mt in 2021.

The group blamed the decline in cement sales volumes on problems in the Haitian market as well as lower trading volumes to the Caribbean and Central America region. Sales volumes of cement and revenue grew in the US but earnings fell. In Colombia, local cement sales volumes fell but were boosted overall by exports.

Colombia: Spain-based Cemex España is offering to acquire non-Cemex-owned shares in Cemex Latam Holdings. Sentido Común News has reported that the move prefigures Cemex Latam Holdings' planned delisting from the Colombian stock exchange to become an independent company. Mexico-based Cemex will consider its divestment under the group's asset optimisation strategy. The company said that the current offer gives investors the chance to exit. It expects to conclude all transactions by 1 May 2023.

Colombia: The Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) has validated Grupo Argos Subsidiary Cementos Argos’ CO₂ emissions reduction goals. Cementos Argos aims to reduce its Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO₂ emissions in line with a well-below 2°C climate change scenario by 2030. Its strategy includes increasing co-processing of alternative fuel (AF), reducing its cement’s clinker factor, optimising its heat and electricity consumption, investing in cleaner technologies, increasing the share of renewable power it uses and diversifying its product range to include more low-carbon products.

Colombia: Cemex has announced the launch of the Tunjuelo Circularity Centre at its former Tunjuelo quarry near Bogotá. Having rebuilt parts of the 50m-deep quarry with demolition waste, Cemex will now work on its ecological restoration, while continuing to receive excavation waste for reconstruction of the ground. It will meanwhile divert demolition waste deliveries for recycling in aggregate production. In Bogotá, Cemex has launched an initiative for urban construction partnerships in collaboration with local authorities. It will also collect municipal solid waste (MSW) there for use in its cement production and collect its used plastic cement bags for recycling in building materials production.

Cemex’s Colombia and Peru president Alejandro Ramírez said "This is a pioneering model for Cemex in the construction materials industry globally, which we aim to position as a benchmark for circularity within the sustainable development of large cities in Colombia and the world. A piece of land that supplied materials for Bogotá's development for decades has received construction and demolition waste for its redevelopment and was transformed into a green area to the south of the city, an epicenter of the circular economy and an opportunity for urban development for the capital city of Colombia." 


Colombia: Grupo Argos announced its purchase of US$2.49m-worth of shares in Cementos Argos. The purchase accounts for 0.3% of the subsidiary's share capital. At the start of 2022, Grupo Argos held a 59% majority stake in the cement producer. The next biggest single shareholders were investment services company AFP y Cesantías Protección, with 8%, and pension fund management company SAFP Porvenir, with 6.3%.