Mexico-based Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua, S.A.B. de C.V. (GCC) announced that total cement sales volumes increased 18.2 percent in the first 11 months of 2017, largely on the strength of strong United States cement sales in October and November. The United States generates around 75 percent of GCC’s revenues.
October and November U.S. cement sales volumes were up 31.2 percent compared to the same period of 2016. For the first 11 months, U.S. cement volumes increased 28.8 percent from the comparable 2016 period. The increase reflects strong demand and GCC’s acquisitions in Texas and New Mexico late last year.
October and November sales volumes in Mexico also grew 10.2 percent, rebounding from decreases earlier in the year. For the first 11 months, Mexico cement volumes decreased 1.6 percent.
GCC total cement sales volumes reached almost 4 million metric tons (Mt) for the January-November period, a new record for the company.
Enrique Escalante, GCC´s chief executive officer, said, “GCC reached record cement sales volumes as a result of strong demand and high level of backlog in our core markets, especially West Texas, Colorado, South Dakota, and the state of Chihuahua. In addition, builders and contractors enjoyed favorable weather in October and November, which offset the effect of some weather and project-related delays in the third quarter. As a result, we are confident that GCC will significantly exceed our U.S. volume outlook for the year and, as a result, also surpass our EBITDA growth target.”
The company now expects consolidated EBITDA growth for 2017 to be greater than 25 percent, compared to the previous outlook of approximately 20 percent.
