Favourable first quarter for CEMEX

Company reports close to tenfold increase in net income during first three months of 2017

CEMEX today reported that, on a like-for-like basis, consolidated net sales increased by 6% during the first quarter of 2017, to US$3.1 billion, compared with the comparable period in 2016, due to higher product prices in most of the company’s operations, as well as higher volumes in Mexico and its Europe and South, Central America and Caribbean regions.

Operating earnings increased by 3%, on a like-for-like basis, in the first quarter, to US$351 million, while net income improved to US$336 million, close to a tenfold increase from a net income of US35 million in the same three-month period last year.

Operating EBITDA on a like-for-like basis increased by 2% during the quarter, to US$559 million, compared with the same period in 2016, while operating EBITDA margin decreased by 0.5 percentage points on a year-over-year basis, reaching 17.8%.

Fernando A. Gonzalez, CEMEX’s chief executive officer, said: ‘We continued to see favourable results from our value-before-volume strategy during the quarter. Sequential and year-over-year pricing increased in the low-to-mid-single digits for our three core products.

‘This, together with favourable volume dynamics in Mexico and our Europe and South, Central America and Caribbean regions, led to solid growth in consolidated sales and operating EBITDA, on a like-for-like basis. In addition, net income increased close to tenfold during the quarter.’

Mr Gonzalez added: ‘During the quarter, we reduced our total debt by US$470 million. This debt level is more than US$2.7 billion lower than that at the end of 2015, representing a reduction of close to 18%, and we have about US$230 million of announced asset sales pending to close.

‘This, plus free cash flow generation during the rest of the year, should help us continue to de-lever, reach our debt-reduction target for this year, and bring us closer to an investment-grade capital structure.’