Cemex announce encouraging 2015 sales rises

Mexican building materials giant 643 Cemex has revealed that its sales increased 2% year-on-year during the fourth quarter of 2015 to US$3.4 billion, and by 5% for the full year 2015 to US$14.1 billion versus full year 2014. Both rises were based on a like-for-like basis and adjusting for currency fluctuations.

Furthermore, Cemex’s operating EBITDA on a like-for-like basis increased by 7% during the fourth quarter to US$663 million, and was up 9% for the full year to US$2.6 billion.

Cemex says its sales increase was due to higher prices of its products, in local currency terms, in most of its operations, as well as higher sales volumes in the US, and in Mediterranean and Asia regions.

Fernando A. Gonzalez, Cemex’s chief executive officer, said: “Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment which has affected many of our markets, our industry, and Cemex specifically, we have been able to meet these challenges and deliver strong operating and financial results, on a like-for-like basis.

Our full-year net income was positive for the first time in six years. In addition, our operating EBITDA increased by 9%, on a like-for-like basis, reflecting our cost-reduction program of US$150 million as well as a positive operating leverage in several of our markets, which translated into a 1.1 percentage-point improvement in operating EBITDA margin.

I am particularly pleased with the growth in our free cash flow after maintenance capex of more than US$480 million, which enabled us to reduce our debt by close to US$1 billion during the year.”