Displaying items by tag: North America

Ireland: CRH has said that it had a ‘positive start to the year’ in the first three months of 2020. Total sales over the period rose by 3% year-on-year. In the Americas region, cement volumes rose by 4% and prices by 6%. European cement sales were ‘broadly in line with the same period of 2019’ due to general volume and price increases offset by a fall in volumes in Western Europe.

Government-implemented covid-19 restrictions on construction towards the end of the period impacted sales in Canada, the UK and France. The likely effects on 2020 profit ‘cannot be reasonably estimated at this time.’ CRH CEO Albert Manifold said, “With the financial strength of CRH and the experience of our leadership teams, we will endure through these unprecedented and uncertain times.”

North America: Cemex’s venture capital division has invested an undisclosed sum in the construction materials delivery and logistics brand GoFor. Gonzalo Galindo, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cemex, has stated the importance of improving efficient on-site delivery as ‘a critical point in the construction value chain’ of its North American divisions.

North America: Humboldt Wedag, a subsidiary of Germany’s KHD, has concluded a non-binding letter of intent with an unnamed customer in North America. The letter of intent for the engineering, supply of equipment and structural steel as well as advisory services related to erection and commissioning covers a potential order volume of more than Euro100m. The customer and Humboldt Wedag intend to enter into negotiations with the aim of concluding a corresponding engineering and procurement contract. Most of KHD’s orders come from the cement sector.

The Americas: Cemex has announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2011. These show that its consolidated net sales increased by 5% compared to the same period of 2010 to approximately USD3.9bn. Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 1% during the quarter to USD658m compared to 2010. Operating income in the third quarter increased by 7% to USD305m, from the comparable period in 2010.

Cemex attributed the increase in consolidated net sales to higher sales, mainly from its operations in northern Europe, the United States and South & Central America and the Caribbean. It said that the infrastructure and residential sectors were the main drivers of demand in those and other regional markets.

Cemex's net sales in Mexico decreased by 1% in the third quarter of 2011 to USD856m, compared with USD868m in the third quarter of 2010. Operating EBITDA of USD285m was unchanged.Operations in the US reported net sales of USD713m in the third quarter of 2011, up by 4% from the same period in 2010. Operating EBITDA was a loss of USD10m.

Cemex's operations in South & Central America and the Caribbean reported net sales of USD453m, a 24% increase. In this region, its operating EBITDA increased by 33% to USD144m, compared to USD108m in 2010.

Fernando A González, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration, said, "This is the fourth consecutive quarter of top-line growth in our results. We also saw stable consolidated pricing on a quarter-on-quarter basis in local-currency terms. We are particularly pleased with the quarterly performance of our operations in the Northern Europe and the South, Central American and Caribbean regions."

"We have raised USD80m in asset sales during the first nine months of 2011 and expect to raise an additional USD100-200m during the fourth quarter. We estimate total proceeds from asset sales will reach USD1bn by the end of 2012."

"We also continue to be confident in our ability to meet all of our financial obligations. We have also prepaid all of maturities under our Financial Agreement until December 2013 and proactively bolstered our liquidity needs," he added.