Cemex has announced that its consolidated net sales reached US$3.2bn during the first quarter of 2016, an increase of three per cent on a like-for-like basis for the ongoing operations and adjusting for currency fluctuations, versus the comparable period in 2015. Operating EBITDA increased 12 per cent on a like-to-like basis during the quarter to US$583m versus the same period in 2015.
Net sales in Mexico decreased 17 per cent in 1Q16 to US$633m, compared with US$766m in the first quarter of 2015. Operating EBITDA decreased by 13 per cent to US$227m when compared with the same period of last year.
Cemex’s operations in the United States reported net sales of US$920m in the 1Q16, up six per cent from the same period in 2015. Operating EBITDA increased 71 per cent to US$109m in the quarter, when compared with 1Q15.
Cemex’s operations in South, Central America and the Caribbean reported net sales of US$422m during the 1Q16, representing a decrease of 10 per cent over the same period of 2015. Operating EBITDA decreased eight per cent to US$136m in the 1Q16, from US$148m in the 1Q15.
In Europe net sales for the first quarter of 2016 decreased three per cent to US$729m, compared with US$748m in the 1Q15. Operating EBITDA was US$52m for the quarter, two per cent lower than the same period last year.
Operations in Asia, Middle East and Africa reported a four per cent increase in net sales for the first quarter of 2016, to US$420m, versus the 1Q15, and operating EBITDA for the quarter was US$103m, up 16 per cent from the same period last year.
Fernando A Gonzalez, Cemex's CEO, said: “We continue to see favourable results from the implementation of our value-before-volume strategy, with increases in sequential pricing in our three core products. Higher consolidated prices led to a like-to-like increase in net sales of three per cent. Prices increased more than our costs and we had a favourable operating leverage in many of our markets leading to a 12 per cent increase in EBITDA on a like-to-like basis, as well as an EBITDA margin expansion of 1.2 percentage points.
"We are particularly pleased with both our free cash flow after maintenance capital expenditures and our net income being positive in a first quarter for the first time in seven years.
"The increase in consolidated net sales was due to higher prices of our products, in local currency terms, in most of our operations, as well as higher volumes in the US, and our Europe and AME&A regions, Gonzalez added.
