Cementos Argos reports 1H18 and 2Q18 results

In 2Q18, the company’s revenues rose by 1.4% to US$727 million when compared to 2Q17. It experienced a 59.7% fall in net profit to US$9.6 million in 2Q18 when compared to 2Q17. For the first half of the year, revenues were US$1.3 billion. In the US, the company obtained the highest EBITDA in June since it arrived in the country in 2005.

“To exceed for the first time US$30 million of EBITDA in a month in the US and to reach an improvement in the EBITDA and in the margin EBITDA in all our regional…reflect the confidence that our clients and investors have in the strategy we are implementing. The rest of the year we will keep our focus on customers, efficiency and innovation to be the most competitive players in the market and, thus, continue to generate value for our stakeholders," said Juan Esteban Calle, President of Cementos Argos.

In the US, Argos obtained revenues of US$755 million and an EBITDA of US$108 million, 9.4% higher than the figure reached in the same period of 2017. In this country, cement shipments decreased 1.4% and concrete shipments remained stable.

In Colombia revenues were close to US$361 780 and EBITDA was US$63.8 million, 18.8% higher than in the same period of 2017. Cement shipments totalled 2.4 million t, representing a 8.2% reduction.

The Caribbean and Central America Regional Division registered revenues of US$299 million and EBITDA at US$99 million, with increases of 2.6% and 3.9% respectively, in relation to the figures reached in the first half of last year. In this regional the company delivered 2.5 million t of cement.

"Internationalisation continues to generate value for our company, as the results obtained in the US and in the Caribbean and Central America compensate to a large extent the challenges we are facing in the Colombian market; proof of this is that in the first six months of the year, 73% of revenues and 75% of EBITDA were generated outside the country. We trust in a better second semester in the local market as a result of the gradual recovery in consumption," concluded Calle.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/16082018/cementos-argos-reports-1h18-and-2q18-results/