Argentina: The Instituto del Cemento Portland Argentino (ICPA) has announced that a series of ten talks, entitled Vision 2030 – a Decade of Action, will take place in late October 2020. It says that the presentations, “will provide a space for reflection on 10 key topics on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda.”
The event is also a celebration of ICPA’s 80th anniversary.
Mexico: Cemex says that it has agreed upon an amendment to its facilities agreement to extend US$1.1bn of term loan maturities to 2025 from 2022, and US$1.1bn of commitments under the revolving credit facility to 2023 from 2022. It says that the sustainability criteria incorporated into the interest rates of the facilities agreement, now worth US$3.2bn, make it ‘one of the largest sustainability-linked loans in the world.’ The company adds that it will prepay US$530m to institutions participating in the extension, corresponding to the July 2021 amortisation under the facilities agreement, and extending its debt maturity profile through to July 2023.
The group has also decided to redenominate its debt away from the US dollar. US$313m of exposure under the term loans that are part of the facilities agreement will convert to Mexican Pesos and US$82m will convert to Euros.
Pakistan: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) have named Maple Leaf Cement the winner of Best Corporate Report Award Cement 2020 for its company coverage.
ICAP and ICMAP said, “The objective of corporate reporting is to be easily understood by all the stakeholders as well as showing utmost transparency. Considering these golden rules, Maple Leaf Cement, which has always accepted corporate accountability being its primary goal, is the best in category.”
Lucky Cement won runner up for the award.
Brazil: Cement sales rose by 21% year-on-year to 5.8Mt in September 2020 from 4.8Mt in September 2019. Data from the National Cement Industry Union (SNIC) shows that sales increased by 9.4% year-on-year to 44.6Mt in the first nine months of 2020 from 40.8Mt in the same period in 2019. Particular gains for the year to date were noted in the North-East and Central-West regions. SNIC has attributed the sales growth to government support for civil construction.
“The results are surprising so far, but that doesn't give us security in the long run,” said Paulo Camillo Penna, president of SNIC. “Sales are being sustained, in the great majority, by real estate construction, the maintenance of the pace of works and small residential reforms and also in the commercial activity that already presents a decline in consumption due to its operation,” However he also noted that activity had been, “subjected to a huge and unexpected pressure of demand, especially since June 2020.” As such SNIC has called for resumption of infrastructure work to stabilise demand.
