Displaying items by tag: Costa Rica

Colombia: Cemex subsidiary Cemex Latam Holdings (CLH) recorded net sales of US$571m in the first nine months of 2020 were down by 24% year-on-year from US$752m in the corresponding period of 2019. Operating earnings fell by 14% to US$69.0m from US$87.0m, while consolidated cement volumes fell by 20% to 3.92Mt from 4.89Mt.

Jesus Gonzalez, chief executive officer (CEO) of CLH said, “Our operations could run relatively normally during the third quarter in Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador, while restrictions impacted in Panama and to a lesser degree in Costa Rica.” He added that the company improved its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by 19% on a like-for-like basis to US$51m in the third quarter of 2020.

Mexico: Elementia has appointed Jaime Rocha Font as its new chief executive officer (CEO) with effect from 2 September 2020. He succeeds Fernando Ruiz Jacques, who will focus on, “new business and development opportunities.” Rocha and Ruiz will work together over the transition process.

Rocha is currently the CEO of Elementia’s Cement Division, including Cementos Fortaleza in Mexico and Costa Rica, as well as Giant Cement Holding in the US. He holds 29 years of experience in the cement industry, and prior to Elementia he held a number of senior positions at Holcim. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from Universidad Católica de Chile and an MBA and postgraduate studies from the IMD in Switzerland, the Free University of Brussels in Belgium and IPADE in Mexico.

Colombia: Cemex Latam Holdings (CLH)’s net sales in the first quarter of 2020 were US$214m, down by 11% year-on-year compared to sales of US$240m in the same period of 2019. Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) throughout the quarter declined by 12% year-on-year to US$46.0m from US$52.3m. Cement volumes over the period were 11% below their first-quarter 2019 level, however prices were 3% higher. Total debt decreased by 8% year-over-year, reaching US$766m as of March 2020.

Cemex Latam Holdings CEO Jesus Gonzalez 
said, “We came into 2020 with favourable demand momentum in Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, and a stabilising trend in Costa Rica. The coronavirus outbreak began to impact on this in March 2020. With respect to capex, US$20.0m has been postponed until 2021. Also, members of CLH’s Board and senior leadership have agreed to voluntarily waive a percentage of their second quarter salaries. Other employees voluntarily deferred a percentage of their salaries for the period. I would like to thank my colleagues for their support in these challenging times.”

Argentina: Holcim Argentina has appointed Christian Dedeu as its new chief executive officer (CEO) from January 2020. He is the first Argentine national to hold the position, according to the Mercado magazine. Dedeu graduated in economics from the Universidad del Salvador and he holds a MBA from the Universidad Austral (IAE) in Buenos Aires. He worked for ExxonMobil for eight years before joining Holcim in 2007. At LafargeHolcim he has worked in Argentina and Costa Rica in a variety of commercial, marketing and retail roles. He has been the commercial director for Argentina since January 2019.

Costa Rica: The government plans to approve legislation charging a 5% tax on both locally produced and imported cement by the end of December 2019. The new rules will standardise existing laws that have only been applicable to the provinces of Cartago, San José and Guanacaste so far, according to the La Republica newspaper. The previous system was only being levied on two of the three cement companies with a presence in the country based on the location of their operations.

Costa Rica: Cemex has taken legal action to query a local 5% tax on the sale of cement in the provinces of Cartago, San José and Guanacaste. The issue is commercially relevant because its competitor Cementos Fortaleza operates a grinding plant at Salinas Esparza in Puntarenas where the tax is not liable, according to Diario Extra magazine. Cementos Fortaleza opened its unit in 2018. Cemex operates an integrated and a grinding plant in the country.

Bulgaria/Panama: Germany’s Venti Oelde has increased its sales presence in Europe and Central America. Its has appointed a new sales representative in Bulgaria, as well as one in Panama to cover countries including Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. The company manufactures industrial products including fans and filters.

Central America: The value of Chinese imports of cement grew by 2% year-on-year to US$77.1m in the first half of 2018 from US$75.6m in the same period in 2017. Nicaragua imported around US$28m, Guatemala US$18m, El Salvador US$12m, Honduras US$7m, Panama US$6m and Costa Rica imported around US$5m, according to CentralAmericaData.

Costa Rica: Mexico’s Cemex has introduced its Cemex Go platform to the Costa Rican market. The new platform will enable customers to place orders, make payments, manage invoices and track deliveries in one place online. The new platform is available for mobile phones, tablets and computers. It has already been launched in nine countries and has over 13,000 users worldwide.

Costa Rica/Latin America: LafargeHolcim has opened the 1000th store in its Disensa retail network in Latin America. The milestone store opened in Costa Rica in late December 2017. Since expanding its Disensa network beyond Ecuador in April 2017, the company has added around 500 Disensa-branded stores in Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico and Nicaragua. LafargeHolcim plans to continue its network expansion in Latin America by opening its first store in Brazil in early 2018.

“The roll-out of the group’s retail strategy in emerging markets such as Latin America is enabling us to get even closer to consumers,” said Oliver Osswald, Head Region Latin America at LafargeHolcim.

The Disensa network is intended to offer self-builders and smaller contractors access to LafargeHolcim’s own building solutions as well as other construction materials and services, including microcredit and technical help. The concept was developed in Ecuador as a franchise scheme. The group also launched its Binastore brand of retail stores in the Middle East and Africa in mid-2017, opening stores in Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Zambia.