Cemex maintains forecast

Cemex had revenues of US$ 11.8 billion for the first half of the year, and achieved earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITA) of US$ 2.3 billion. These represented growth of +26% and +15% respectively thanks to the company's acquisition of Rinker last year. On a like-for-like basis, revenues were up +4% and EBITA was down -2% compared to the first six months of 2007.

Commenting on the results, chief financial officer (CFO) Rodrigo Treviño said, "We have and better than expected performance in South/Central America and the Caribbean, Africa, the milled East, Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia. However, this performance has not fully mitigated the downturn in the US and the negative impact from higher energy input costs. We continue to face a difficult economic environment in the US, with construction falling more than originally anticipated."

The company expects to achieve sales of US$ 24.5 billion this year, with EBITA of about US$ 5.3 billion.

US impact

Cemex forecasts that its cement volumes in the US will be -12% lower this year than in 2007. Ready-mixed concrete volumes are expected to fall about -21%, while aggregate volumes are expected to drop -20%. The company also sees a sharp downturn in Spain this year and lower volumes in the UK.