Argentina’s Loma Negra has announced a 30.1 per cent YoY decline in net revenue to ARS7453m (US$104m) in the second quarter of 2020. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA was also down 24.6 per cent to ARS2077m, while the margin climbed from 25.8 to 27.9 per cent.

"Cement demand in Argentina in the second quarter contracted around 32 per cent YoY and around four per cent when compared sequentially with the previous quarter. Taking a closer look on the behaviour of our demand, we observed that the initial plummeting of sales in April was followed by a strong recovery since May in the bag segment across the country," said Sergio Faifman, CEO.

In the 1H20 revenue dropped 29.9 per cent YoY to ARS15.6bn from ARS22.29bn. The adjusted EBITDA declined 29.5 per cent to ARS4293m, against ARS6089m in the 1H19.

Sales volumes of cement, masonry and lime in Argentina during the 2Q20 declined 24.5 per cent to 1.01Mt, reflecting the full impact of the COVID-19 lockdown and the negative economic momentum in the country.

In Paraguay sales volumes in the second quarter edged up 0.8 per cent to reach 0.13Mt.