Cementos Argos 2Q 2024 Net Income Dips 6.5% Year-on-Year
Medellin-based multinational cement/concrete giant Cementos Argos announced August 9 a 6.5% year-on-year decline in second quarter (2Q) 2024 net income, to COP$127 billion (US$31 million), from COP$136 billion (US$33 million) in 2Q 2023.
Revenue also declined 3.4% year-on-year, to COP$1.34 trillion (US$329 million), versus COP$1.39 trillion (US$341 million) in 2Q 2023.
On the other hand, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved by 10.7% year-on-year, to COP$279 billion (US$68 million), from COP$252 billion (US$62 million) in 2Q 2023.
As for first half (1H) 2024 (January through June), net income dropped 21.5%, to COP$200 billion (US$49 million), while adjusted EBITDA rose 5.8% year-on-year, to COP$570 billion (US$140 million).
The decline in 1H 2024 profits mirrored a 6.4% decline in 1H 2024 revenues, fallling to COP$2.65 trillion (US$651 million), from COP$2.83 trillion (US$695 million) in 1H 2023.
Despite the declines in revenues and profits, Cementos Argos noted a recent softening in inflation and “improvement in market dynamics in certain countries within the CCA [Caribbean and Central America] region for 2Q 2024, which altogether allowed for an EBITDA margin expansion of 249 basis points, reaching 21.5% for the quarter.”
However, “cement and ready-mix concrete volumes experienced a decrease of -2.9% and -2.8% during 1H 2024 year-over-year, but during 2Q 2024 a recovery of +2.1% in cement and +0.8% in ready-mix concrete was exhibited,” according to Argos.
“Positive volume execution during the second quarter was possible due to the good dynamics of Dominican Republic, Honduras and Surinam in cement, and Colombia in terms of ready-mix.
“During the [latest] quarter, we continued to implement a commercial strategy leveraged on the strength of the Argos brand. This approach allowed the company to maintain stable prices throughout the year in a context of lower local volumes.
“The commercial strategy just mentioned complemented the efficiencies program, from the quarry to the client, which achieved savings of COP$40 billion (US$9.8 million) during the second quarter, primarily in logistics costs.
“Overall, the unitary cost of energy decreased in line with inflation in the cement business on a year-over-year basis for the second quarter,” the company added.
