Votorantim Cimentos ended 2024 with record high annual operating results and margin growth, supported by geographic and product diversification. The company’s global net revenue in the year totalled BRL26.6bn (US$4.69bn), on par with 2023, excluding changes in foreign exchange rates, primarily as result of the positive performance in European and Asian countries, and stability in Brazil. Cement sales volume in 2024 totalled 35.4Mt, up one per cent compared to the previous year.
Adjusted EBITDA was BRL6.5bn, a record high for the second consecutive year and up nine per cent compared to 2023, in local currency. The improvement in operating results can be attributed to the company’s balanced portfolio (especially in its operations in Europe and Asia), operational efficiency combined with lower variable costs in most regions, and the positive impact of new businesses, in addition to gains resulting from the sale of non-strategic assets in North America and Uruguay. The EBITDA margin in the year was 24 per cent, two percentage points higher than 2023.
Last year, Votorantim Cimentos’ investments totalled BRL3.2bn, up 38 per cent compared to 2023. This increase is in line with the global strategy of investments in decarbonisation, competitiveness and new businesses. Regarding the BRL5bn investment plan announced in early 2024 to strengthen operations in Brazil, BRL1.9bn is already being executed, including a comprehensive programme of structural growth and competitiveness through 2028.
This investment plan includes a project to modernise the kiln and biomass system at the Xambioá plant in Tocantins state, Brazil, to increase the site’s co-processing rate. Similarly, last year, the first phase of a modernisation project in the Salto de Pirapora plant in São Paulo state, Brazil, was completed, leading to a marginal increase in clinker production capacity as the site seeks to accelerate thermal substitution and reduce CO2 emissions. A new cement grinding plant is also being built at the Salto de Pirapora plant, which will add 1Mta to the site’s production capacity. Construction is expected to be completed in the 2H25.
In 2024 expansion projects in Brazil included the start of operations at a new site in Itaperuçu, Paraná state, increasing the capacity related to new businesses, such as agricultural solutions company Viter and the waste management and co-processing business Verdera . In addition, Votorantim Cimentos announced last year the expansion of the Edealina site in Goiás state, a BRL200m investment in the construction of a new cement grinding line that will double the plant’s cement capacity to 2Mta. The project is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.
“We ended the year with record-high operating results, supported by our geographic, product and business diversification, in line with our strategic mandate. We continued to advance our program of modernisation, competitiveness and acceleration of new businesses, as well as the implementation of our decarbonisation and sustainability strategy, aligned with our 2030 public commitments,” said Osvaldo Ayres, global CEO of Votorantim Cimentos.
Votorantim Cimentos ended 2024 with leverage (measured by the net debt/adjusted EBITDA ratio) of 1.66x, an increase of 0.29x compared to 2023, considering only continuing operations.
The company posted adjusted net profit of BRL2.2bn in 2024, 17 per cent lower than in the previous year due to financial expenses, including the early settlement of a bond originally due in 2027.
At the end of 2024, Votorantim Cimentos paid BRL1.1bn to the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE, in Portuguese) in connection with an agreement to end all administrative and judicial litigation involving the company and the Brazilian antitrust agency, in accordance with the rules of the “Desenrola Agências Reguladoras” programme.
