Displaying items by tag: Cemex

Nicaragua: Cemex Nicaragua, has been awarded a national prize as a leading business for its industrial safety management procedures. The award was given by the National Council for Work Safety and Hygiene and refers to the firm's Canal plant in southwest Managua. The firm is building a new production unit in the northeast section of the same city at the moment. This new unit is due to begin operations early in 2015.

Mexico: Cemex plans to create an energy division to participate in power generation using natural gas and wind power for self-supply and sale to Mexico's state utility company CFE. Cemex wants a stake in up to seven power generation projects similar to the two it currently relies on, according to CEO Fernando González.

The Monterrey-based company announced in September 2014 that it would seek to increase its power generation capacity, without mentioning specific projects. In April 2014, Cemex completed financing of the US$650m 252MW Ventika wind farm in Nuevo León State, in which it holds a 5% stake. The facility is slated for completion in the second quarter of 2016.
Ventika is expected to supply power to beverage bottler Femsa, steel products firm Deacero, Tecnológico de Monterrey University and Cemex, with more off-takers likely to come onboard in the future. AWS Truepower, a New York-based renewables consulting and engineering services firm, will act as independent engineer to support the construction of Ventika, which will comprise two 126MW parks.

González said that Cemex was exploring project possibilities and searching for partners with the requisite plant management knowledge. "We have already developed energy generation projects in Mexico and in other countries under the self-supply model, because cement production demands a lot of power and there is not enough electricity available," he said.

Colombia: Wärtsilä, a supplier of power plant and ship power solutions and services, has renewed its asset management agreement with Cemex Colombia. The agreement was signed during summer 2014 and it is valid for five years. It is a continuation of an earlier asset management agreement that was signed in 1998.

With this new agreement, Wärtsilä continues to operate and maintain the power plant at Cemex Colombia's cement plant. The agreement covers day-to-day operation of the power plant and the natural gas station (city gate), preventive and predictive maintenance services, management of parts logistics and technical support services. This agreement is a long-term operational partnership with a common goal to ensure maximised lifetime, guaranteed performance and predictable life cycle costs for the power plant.

"We have worked with Wärtsilä for 15 years," said Jairo Guerrero, energy director from Cemex Colombia. "During these years, Wärtsilä has showed excellent performance in ensuring the reliability and availability of our cement factory in Ibagué. Wärtsilä has also introduced innovative upgrades that will further improve the performance and reliability of our power plant. We are happy to continue our long-term partnership with them."

Cemex Colombia's cement plant is powered by five Wärtsilä 34SG engines, with a total capacity of 25MW. The plant is located near Ibagué, a municipality in the Department of Tolima.

Europe: Cemex has signed binding agreements with Holcim regarding the series of transactions that was originally announced on 28 August 2013.

The main scope of the transactions in Germany and the Czech Republic remain unchanged: Cemex will acquire all of Holcim's assets in the Czech Republic and will divest its assets in western Germany to Holcim. In Spain, Cemex will acquire Holcim's 0.85Mt/yr capacity Gador cement plant and its 0.9Mt/yr capacity Yeles cement grinding plant. Holcim will keep all of its other operations in Spain.

As part of these transactions, Cemex will pay Euro45m in cash to Holcim. Once the transactions are closed, Cemex expects a recurring improvement in its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), including synergies, of about US$20m to US$30m. These transactions are expected to close during the first quarter of 2015.

Mexico: Cemex has announced that it will not make an offer to buy the assets being sold by Holcim and Lafarge in light of their merger. Instead, Cemex plans to focus on organic growth, generating more cash flow and reducing its leverage, according to general manager Fernando A Gonzalez Olivieri. Cemex's aims are to once again reach earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$4.70bn in 2016 or 2017 and to recover its investment grade via leverage reduction.

Mexico: Cemex has announced that its consolidated net sales reached approximately US$4.1bn during the third quarter of 2014, an increase of 4% on a like-to-like basis for the ongoing operations and adjusting for currency fluctuations, versus the comparable period in 2013. On a like-for-like basis, operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 3% during the quarter to US$767m versus the same period in 2013. The increase in consolidated net sales on a like-for-like basis was due to higher volumes in Mexico, the US and the South, Central America and the Caribbean and Asia regions, as well as higher prices of its products in most operations.

Net operating earnings before other expenses in the third quarter increased by 5% to US$491m. Operating EBITDA increased, on a like-for-like basis, by 3% during the quarter to US$767m. Cemex reported a narrower controlling interest net loss of US$106m during the third quarter of 2014, from a loss of US$155m in the same period of 2013.

"We are pleased with the year-to-date trends in our consolidated volumes and prices, despite the more challenging economic conditions during the quarter, especially in Europe," said Fernando A González, CEO. "We continue to see favorable medium-term growth prospects for our regions, especially in the Americas, where we expect most of our mid-term EBITDA growth. We are comfortable with the steps taken so far towards attaining an investment-grade capital structure target both on the financial and operating side."

Net sales in Mexico increased by 4% in the third quarter of 2014 to US$803m compared with US$776m in the third quarter of 2013. Operating EBITDA decreased by 1% to US$245m versus the same period of 2013.

Cemex's operations in the US reported net sales of approximately US$1.0bn in the third quarter of 2014, up by 13% from the same period in 2013. Operating EBITDA increased by 74% to US$136m in the quarter versus US$78m in the same quarter of 2013.

In Northern Europe net sales for the third quarter of 2014 decreased by 3% to approximately US$1.1bn, compared with approximately US$1.2bn in the third quarter of 2013. Operating EBITDA was US$144m for the quarter, 11% lower than the same period of 2013.

Third-quarter net sales in the Mediterranean region were US$400m, 7% higher compared with US$375m during the third quarter of 2013. Operating EBITDA increased by 4% to US$81m for the quarter versus the comparable period in 2013.

Cemex's operations in South, Central America and the Caribbean reported net sales of US$585m during the third quarter of 2014, representing a decrease of 2% over the same period of 2013. Operating EBITDA decreased by 6% to US$199m in the third quarter of 2014, from US$210m in the third quarter of 2013.

Its operations in Asia reported a 9% increase in net sales for the third quarter of 2014 to US$151m, versus the third quarter of 2013 and operating EBITDA for the quarter was US$40m, up by 11% from the same period of 2013.

India: The Aditya Birla Group has submitted bids to purchase global assets being divested from the LafargeHolcim merger. UltraTech and other companies that belong to Birla have put in bids for cement units of Lafarge and Holcim in Brazil and the Philippines at an enterprise value of US$1.4bn. The group had identified Brazil as a major place for expansion three years ago. The Philippines was among the overseas countries where the group started operations several years ago.

Birla is competing with rival cement companies and private equity funds for the units. Germany's HeidelbergCement has teamed up with Votorantim Cimentos of Brazil while Cemex has joined hands with CRH plc. Eurocement is also in the race. Birla's move is part of its overall plan to increase its cement capacity to 70Mt/yr by early 2016 from 63Mt/yr currently.

Over 50% of Birla's revenues come from its overseas operations. According to a consultant involved with the deal, Birla will be unable to bid for LafargeHolcim assets in some of the market, including India, as a purchase will lead to monopoly in those markets.

Dominican Republic: Cemex has launched operations at a 1.5MW solar energy complex in the Dominican Republic in line with its commitment to sustainability. The facility will supply 2.2MkWhr/yr of energy to Cemex's cement plant in San Pedro de Macoris. It features 5040 panels with high-tech inverters. It is the first solar power plant owned by Cemex in the Caribbean. The company aims to continue to invest in sustainable energy solutions, such as marine and wind power.

Mexico: Cemex has announced that it will lower its annual financing costs by up to US$165m following the adoption of a new refinancing plan. The plan will also allow the firm to raise its annual investment limit to US$1bn from US$800m, according to Chief Finance Officer Jose Antonio Gonzalez.

Gonzalez also said that Cemex will continue looking to refinance debt that expires in 2015 and it expects that conversion of 2016 bonds to shares will further lower its debt. The company also announced that it had signed a new credit agreement with nine banks worth US$1.35bn, the proceeds of which will be used to refinance debt.

Spain: The European Commission has cleared the acquisition of the Spanish operations of the Swiss building materials group Holcim by its Mexican peer Cemex following an in-depth investigation.