CEMEX report first-quarter results
Seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement in operating EBITDA
CEMEX’s consolidated net sales reached US$3.3 billion during the first quarter of 2013, a decrease of 5% compared with the same period in 2012, while operating EBITDA decreased by 8% during the quarter, to US$521 million.
The decrease in consolidated net sales, which was attributed to fewer business days and lower volumes in the company’s Northern Europe, Mexico, Mediterranean, and South, Central America and Caribbean operations, was partially offset by higher prices, in local currency terms, in most regions.
After adjusting for the fewer business days during the quarter and, in the case of operating EBITDA, for the extraordinary favourable effect in 2012 resulting from pension plan changes in the company’s Northern Europe region, net sales declined by 2% and operating EBITDA increased by 9% during the first quarter.
Operating EBITDA margin, after adjusting for the effects of the change in pension plan and the fewer business days during the quarter, increased by 1.6 percentage points on a year-over-year basis.
Commenting on the results, Fernando A. González, executive vice-president of finance and administration, said: ‘We are pleased with the operating EBITDA growth and operating EBITDA margin expansion during the quarter on a comparable basis. This is the seventh consecutive quarter with year-over-year improvement in operating EBITDA.’
On a geographical basis, net sales in CEMEX’s operations in Mexico decreased by 7% in the first quarter of 2013 to US$780 million, compared with US$838 million in the first quarter of 2012, while operating EBITDA decreased by 11% to US$263 million compared with the same period of last year.
CEMEX’s operations in the US reported net sales of US$736 million in the first quarter of 2013, up 8% from the same period in 2012, while operating EBITDA increased to US$19 million in the quarter, compared with a loss of US$24 million in the same quarter of 2012.
In Northern Europe, net sales for the first quarter of 2013 decreased 13% to US$756 million, compared with US$873 million in the first quarter of 2012, while operating EBITDA saw a loss of US$17 million for the quarter, from a gain of US$55 million for the same period last year.
First-quarter net sales in the Mediterranean region were US$347 million, 8% lower compared with US$377 million during the first quarter of 2012. Operating EBITDA decreased by 25% to US$73 million for the quarter versus the comparable period in 2012.
CEMEX’s operations in South, Central America and the Caribbean reported net sales of US$497 million during the first quarter of 2013, representing a decrease of 5% over the same period the previous year, while operating EBITDA increased 5% to US$188 million in the first quarter of 2013, from US$178 million in the first quarter of 2012.
Operations in Asia reported a 11% increase in net sales for the first quarter of 2013, to US$142 million, versus the first quarter of 2012, and operating EBITDA for the quarter was US$24 million, up 93% from the same period last year.
