Exchange rates impact Juan Minetti

Argentina’s second largest cement company Juan Minetti (holcim) posted a 31.4mn-peso (US$10.5m) consolidated net profit first half this year, down 71% from 1H03, the company said in a filing to the country’s securities regulator (CNV).  For the period, although net sales rose 32.2% to 221mn pesos and operating profit grew 55% to 82.2mn pesos, the bottom line was impacted by exchange rate differences on the company’s debt.

In 2003, increased sales and a successful financial restructuring helped Minetti post a 121mn-peso net profit, recovering from a 210mn-peso net loss the year before. The company’s cement sales reached 1.64Mt in 2003, up 26.5% from 2002.