Colombia cement producer Grupo Argos is to defer investments and cut spending by nearly Mex$1 trillion ($245 million) following uncertainty surrounding the impact of coronavirus Covid19 crisis.
A report by Reuters says the group will postpone investments of Mex$700 billion ($171.30 million) and cut costs by Mex$250 billion ($61.2 million).
The move is expected to have an impact on certain expansion projects as the company is hoping to protect jobs and ensure its sustainability.
Grupo's CEO Jorge Mario Velasquez told journalists: “Today we have taken measures to postpone investments ... they haven’t been cancelled, we have just put them on ‘stand by’ until we have more visibility of the future.”
“These two measures will provide around a trillion pesos for the organization, in addition to other sources, cash and financing it has access to, which gives us relative peace of mind,” he added.
Grupo's main subsidiaries include Cementos Argos, electric company Celsia and Odinsa, which holds highway and airport concessions.
Cementos Argos is a marketing-leading cement producer in Colombia and the fourth-largest cement manufacturer in Latin America. The company is reported to be the only producer of white cement in Colombia. Argos has investments in Panama, Honduras, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is the second largest concrete producer and the fourth largest cement provider in the United States. It exports cement and clinker to 27 countries around the world.
