Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos recorded a loss of US$94.0m in the first half of 2020, up by 99% year-on-year from US$47.2m in the first half of 2019. Sales fell by 8% to US$680m from US$739m. During the period Votorantim Cimentos and its subsidiary St Mary’s Cement increased the balance withdrawn from credit facilities by US$247m, in order to “strengthen liquidity as protection within the current crisis context due to the Covid-19 pandemic and to cope with the seasonality that recurrently affects North America.” The group says that it will reduce the value of its 2020 investments by 25% to US$545m from a planned US$726m, down by 6.3% year-on-year from US$581 in 2019.
