Cemex reports fourth quarterly improvement in a row

The Americas: Cemex has announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2011. These show that its consolidated net sales increased by 5% compared to the same period of 2010 to approximately USD3.9bn. Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 1% during the quarter to USD658m compared to 2010. Operating income in the third quarter increased by 7% to USD305m, from the comparable period in 2010.

Cemex attributed the increase in consolidated net sales to higher sales, mainly from its operations in northern Europe, the United States and South & Central America and the Caribbean. It said that the infrastructure and residential sectors were the main drivers of demand in those and other regional markets.

Cemex's net sales in Mexico decreased by 1% in the third quarter of 2011 to USD856m, compared with USD868m in the third quarter of 2010. Operating EBITDA of USD285m was unchanged.Operations in the US reported net sales of USD713m in the third quarter of 2011, up by 4% from the same period in 2010. Operating EBITDA was a loss of USD10m.

Cemex's operations in South & Central America and the Caribbean reported net sales of USD453m, a 24% increase. In this region, its operating EBITDA increased by 33% to USD144m, compared to USD108m in 2010.

Fernando A González, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration, said, "This is the fourth consecutive quarter of top-line growth in our results. We also saw stable consolidated pricing on a quarter-on-quarter basis in local-currency terms. We are particularly pleased with the quarterly performance of our operations in the Northern Europe and the South, Central American and Caribbean regions."

"We have raised USD80m in asset sales during the first nine months of 2011 and expect to raise an additional USD100-200m during the fourth quarter. We estimate total proceeds from asset sales will reach USD1bn by the end of 2012."

"We also continue to be confident in our ability to meet all of our financial obligations. We have also prepaid all of maturities under our Financial Agreement until December 2013 and proactively bolstered our liquidity needs," he added.