InterCement's cement volumes remain stable in 3Q21 at 5.4Mt

InterCement reports that its total cement volume remained at a solid 5.4Mt in the 3Q21, reflecting stability YoY due to the sizeable comparison base of last year, when post pandemic pent-up demand enhanced the base.  

The cement industry in Argentina remained on a strong pace, with Loma Negra volumes up eight per cent YoY, helped by some recovery of bulk segment. Argentine volumes expanded by 8.4 per cent versus the 3Q20. 

InterCement’s Brazilian volumes sold reached 2.5Mt, despite being down 2.4 per cent YoY mainly as a result of strong 3Q20. African operations were also down by two per cent YoY, affected by a 27 per cent volume decline in Mozambique following the entry of a new player in the southern region of the country. Egypt kept on reporting rising volume figures, expanding by 20 per cent YoY in the quarter, backed by the resumption of small-medium scale construction activities in the Alexandria region.  

In South Africa volumes declined by one per cent YoY, affected by country’s massive social unrest in July 2021 and some production difficulties the operations temporarily faced in this quarter.  

Sales of US$492m, an expansion of 33 per cent YoY, mirrored a healthy price trend in most of the regions, also driven by some cost pass-through. Brazilian and Argentinian currencies have depreciated in the period, thus excluding forex impact, sales would have increased by 37 per cent.

Costs pressure raised materially, driven by global inflation and energy costs, although was partially offset by prices increases. Anyhow, a rising top line generated positive effects from operational leverage that led to adjusted EBITDA expansion of 22 per cent YoY, at US$127m. Argentina reported a growing and solid adjusted EBITDA of US$66m, an expansion of 35 per cent YoY, while Brazil reached US$48m, an increase of 16 per cent when compared 3Q20.  

Net debt totalled US$1356m, which was flat when compared to December 2020. The deleverage trend remained in place, decreasing to 2.9x from 3.8x in the 4Q20.