Displaying items by tag: Mexico
Cemex to meet debt reduction target in 2016
07 December 2016Mexico: Cemex says that it has made progress towards reducing its debts in 2016. So far it has announced divestments of close to US$2bn, it has reduced its total debt plus perpetual securities by more than US$2bn and says it is on target to reach its leverage ratio target of about 4.25 times by the end of the year. Cemex is also on track to reach its debt reduction target of US$3 - 3.5bn by the end of 2017.
“Despite challenging market conditions, working on the variables we can control has allowed us to be well on our way to significantly strengthen our capital structure, and we expect to continue to be able to do so in the near future,” said Fernando A Gonzalez, chief executive officer of Cemex.
Elementia completes acquisition Giant Cement
02 December 2016US: Mexico’s Elementia has completed its acquisition of Giant Cement for US$220m from Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV). The board of directors has given its final approval for the purchase of the remaining 55% stake of the US cement producer giving it full control of the company. The transaction gives Elementia three cement plants, three limestone quarries, two aggregate quarries and six cement terminals, adding more than 2.8Mt/yr of cement production capacity.
“Today marks a major milestone for Elementia as we successfully enter the US cement market and take another solid step within our inorganic growth strategy. The work of our transition team is already underway to extract the tremendous value we see in Giant,” said Fernando Ruiz Jacques, chief executive officer of Elementia.
Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua offers to build Donald Trump’s wall
24 November 2016US: Enrique Escalante, the chief executive officer of Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC), has said that his company is ready to help president-elect Donald Trump build his proposed wall on the border with Mexico. Escalante told Reuters in an interview that GCC was an ‘important’ producer that had to respect its clients wishes on both sides of the border. Trump campaigned in the US presidential elections on the pledge that he would build a wall along the 2300km border between the US and Mexico.
Like him or loathe him, Trump will boost the US cement industry
09 November 2016In June 2016, the polls said that the UK would remain in the European Union (EU), but now we have the prospect of Brexit. Democrat supporters in the US now know how the UK's 'Remainers' feel. The unthinkable has happened: the so-called 'Deplorables' have taken over the asylum. Donald Trump has won the US presidential election and he will be the 45th US president, after confounding all the polls, the media, the analysts and the commentators. He'll be able to appoint a swathe of right-leaning office-holders, including a crucial replacement for the late Antonin Scalia on the US Supreme Court. This will change the direction of US law-making for years, possibly decades, towards a less-liberal and more conservative outlook.
Trump will also be aided by having Republican majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and will actually be able to get things done. President Obama had to fight hard for eight years to achieve anything, and finally had to fall back on enacting laws by presidential dictat or 'Executive Orders.' 'The Donald' will not have to stoop so low, and once he takes office will effectively be 'sweeping with the wind.'
Trump looks set to change US policy in a number of areas, including being less conciliatory towards America's foes ("I'm going to bomb the s••t out of ISIS"), taxing imports and tearing up trade agreements and rolling back US environmental efforts (he has promised to abolish the US Environmental Protection Agency, to cancel the Paris climate change deal, to sanction more drilling for oil and to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline the fourth phase of which was recently rejected by President Obama). Who knows what else he has planned?
Well, one thing that we do know is that Trump's election is very probably great news for the US cement industry.
Early on in his victory speech, moments after receiving a telephone call from Hillary Clinton conceding defeat, Trump laid out the first step of his plan to 'Make America Great Again:' building US infrastructure. Trump said: "We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. And we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it." He didn't actually mention cement (nor did he mention a 'big beautiful wall'), but all of these projects will require plenty of cement and concrete. Whether they voted for him or not (and Trump noted that there are those 'who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people'), workers in the cement industry will be celebrating the prospect of fuller order sheets, higher prices, better profitability and more overtime. From a current GDP growth rate of around 1%, some have suggested a surge past 3%/yr and beyond during a Trump presidency. The crucial question, often overlooked, is "How are we going to pay for all this investment?" With the US debt heading towards US$20Tn, perhaps Trump's history as a Democrat - and all the tax-raising territory that comes with that position - might come in handy after all.
Trump has indicated that he's already looking to a second term ("I look very much forward to being your president, and hopefully at the end of two years or three years or four years, or maybe even eight years...") based on what he might achieve in his first term. Well, let's see. Donald Trump's deeds now need to speak louder than Donald Trump's words.
Mexico: Cemex’s net sales have fallen by 2% year-on-year to US$10.5Bn in the first nine months of 2016 from US$10.7Bn in the same period in 2015. However, in a like-for-like basis adjusted for ongoing operations and currency fluctuations its sales rose by 5%. Its gross profit rose by 3% to US$3.65bn and its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBTIDA) rose by 9% to US$2.14bn. It attributed the rise in sales on a like-for-like basis to higher prices in local currency terms and higher volumes in Mexico and its European and Asia, Middle East & Africa regions.
“During the third quarter, we continued to deliver strong underlying operational and financial results by remaining focused on the variables we can control. Our year-to-date operating EBITDA grew 17% on a like-for-like basis, with a 5% growth in sales. This was the highest year-to-date EBITDA growth in a decade,” said the group’s chief executive officer, Fernando A Gonzalez.
Overall, the cement producer saw its cement volumes rise by 1% to 50.8Mt from 50.1Mt. Its net sales on a like-for-like basis and sales volumes rose in most of its operating regions except for South, Central America and the Caribbean and Europe.
Cementos Portland Valderrivas board approves sale of Giant Cement Holding to Elementia
31 October 2016US: The board of Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV) has approved the sale of a 55% stake in its US subsidiary Giant Cement Holding to Elementia. The deal includes a US$220m capital increase in Giant Cement with subscription rights granted to Elementia, according to SeeNews. Elementia will also extend a loan of around US$305m to Giant Cement. In addition CPV will transfer up to US$66m in loans to Giant Cement to keep its remaining stake in the American cement producer at 45%.
Mexico: Grupo Kopar has won first place at the Cemex Integrate Supplier’s Innovation Program. Three ideas for innovation and their contribution to the company, the communities where it operates, and the environment were recognised from a field of 28 suppliers at Cemex Mexico’s Supplier’s Day 2016. The awards were presented at a ceremony at Monterrey on 12 October 2016.
The ideas submitted, which mainly focused on providing more efficient processes, products and services, were subjected to an evaluation and voting process directed by a group of 20 executives and experts from different areas of the company. Additionally, 40 companies earned the OHSAS 18001:2008 Standard and were recognised as ‘Health and Safety Certified Suppliers.’
Grupo Kopar came first with its idea for a high efficiency valve for dust collectors. The project consisted of making more efficient dust collectors by redefining the pulse filter cleaning valve system by migrating from traditional diaphragm valve technology to efficient Mac spool valves. Grupo Kopar supplies pneumatic and motion control components, with applications ranging from pneumatic valves and cylinders to robots.
Second place was awarded to Equipos y Explosivos del Noreste for its idea for a low-density blasting agent. Its agent is made from a different fuel than the one currently used, offering a cost reduction and improved results for the displacement and fragmentation of each quarry blast. Equipo y Explosivos del Noreste has been present in the mining and construction explosives market since 1989, providing high-quality technology in all of its products.
Third place was won by Vidmar for its automatic bag weigher CWB 25-50. The system is designed to perform automatic random cement bag weight sampling without human intervention to improve health and safety conditions. Vidmar is a specialised engineering group with more than 30 years of experience. It is a global specialised supplier in the industrial weight and automation field.
Cemex to sell 23% stake in Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua
03 October 2016Mexico: Cemex wants to sell its 23% stake in Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua through a secondary public offering. Cemex has asked the Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores, Mexico's banking and securities regulator (CNBV), to approve the planned transaction, under which the Mexican building materials company will offer the shares to domestic and foreign investors in a concurrent private placement. The sale will be part of Cemex’s previously announced asset disposal plan. The company wants to sell up to US$2bn worth of assets to reduce its debts.
Mexico: Cemex has announced that Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources has granted the company an Honourable Mention for the 2016 National Award of Ecological Merit. This award is the country’s most important environmental recognition and was presented to CEMEX for its conservation and restoration efforts under the company’s El Carmen Conservation Program.
Cemex earned this recognition in the Business Category for its contribution to the restoration, conservation, and increased population of endangered species such as the bighorn sheep, the pronghorn antelope, and the golden eagle. Thanks to El Carmen’s preservation initiatives, other species with considerably increased populations include the desert mule deer, the white-tailed deer, and the black bear — the largest population of this species of bear in Mexico.
“We are very proud to receive this recognition. It encourages us to continue our work to preserve the extraordinary biodiversity of our planet,” said Fernando A. Gonzalez, CEO of Cemex. “Our 15 years of continuous commitment to El Carmen underscores the key role that sustainability plays in our company’s strategy.”
Cemex’s El Carmen Conservation Program celebrates 15 years of work conserving the unique biodiversity of the border region within the states of Coahuila, Mexico, and Texas, USA. Comprising over 140,000 hectares, the El Carmen ecological reserve is one of the most biodiversity rich areas in North America and one of the five great wilderness ecosystems in the world.
Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua to restructure company
30 August 2016Mexico: The board of directors of Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) has proposed a new corporate structure to simplify GCC’s controlling shareholder structure and make such structure clearer to investors. The restructuring, if approved by GCC’s shareholders, will consist of a merger between two entities controlling GCC into GCC, in which GCC would be the surviving entity.
Once the corporate restructuring is finalised, GCC’s principal direct shareholder will be Cancem, which will hold a majority and controlling interest in the shares of GCC. In addition, as a result of the proposed corporate restructuring, if approved by GCC’s shareholders as proposed, Cemex will own a direct stake equal to 23% of the outstanding share capital of GCC and a minority stake in Camcem. Cemex has expressed that it expects to hold its interest in Camcem as a long-term investment and will therefore remain an indirect minority shareholder of GCC.
The proposed corporate restructuring has been approved by the Mexican competition regulator, the Comisión Federal de Competencia Económica, and will require the approval of GCC’s shareholders to be completed.