CEMEX report highest net income in a decade
Net income up from US$750 million in 2016 to US$806 million last year – the highest since 2007
CEMEX announced today that the company’s net income reached US$806 million in 2017, up from US$750 million in 2016, and was the company’s highest net income generation since 2007.
On a like-for-like basis for ongoing operations, consolidated net sales increased by 4% during the fourth quarter of 2017 to US$3.4 billion, and increased by 3% for the full year 2017 to US$13.7 billion, compared with the comparable periods in 2016.
Operating EBITDA on a like-for-like basis decreased by 7% during the fourth quarter of 2017 to US$625 million and decreased by 6% for the full year to US$2.6 billion, versus 2016.
Operating EBITDA margin during the fourth quarter decreased to 18.3% from 20.7% in the same period of 2016. For the full year, operating EBITDA margin decreased to 18.8% from 20.6% during 2016.
Free cash flow after maintenance capex for the quarter increased by 10% to US$680 million, compared with the same quarter of 2016, while for the full year 2017 the figure reached US$1.3 billion and conversion of EBITDA into free cash flow after maintenance capex reached 50%.
Fernando A. Gonzalez (pictured), chief executive officer of CEMEX, said: ‘Although 2017 was a challenging year, our two largest markets, Mexico and the US, performed well with like-for-like increases in their EBITDA.
‘We also generated free cash flow after maintenance capex of close to US$1.3 billion, with a 50% EBITDA-to-free-cash-flow conversion rate which, together with our asset-divestment initiatives, resulted in pro-forma debt reduction of close to US$2.1 billion during the year.
‘We had important headwinds during the year: underperformance in Colombia, Egypt and the Philippines, as well as increased energy costs, mainly in Mexico. As we have done in the past, we focused on the variables we control to dampen these headwinds and we continued to deliver solid results.’
