Loma Negra records 2% fall in revenue for the 9M19

Argentina's Loma Negra has recorded a 2.3 per cent fall in net revenue to ARS26.74bn (US$448m) in the first nine months of 2019, compared with ARS27.36bn in the year-ago period. However, the net profit surged 176.8 per cent to ARS2.6bn from ARS944m.

Adjusted EBITDA in the 9M19 climbed nine per cent YoY to ARS7.45bn from ARS6.8bn, while the margin increased to 27.8 per cent from 25 per cent in the 9M18.

Argentine sales volumes of cement, masonry and lime in the 9M19 decreased 10.4 per cent to 4.19Mt from 4.68Mt in the corresponding period of the previous year. However, sales of the products increased 1.8 per cent YoY in Paraguay, rising to 0.43Mt from 0.42Mt.

3Q19
In the third quarter, net revenue was down 7.6 per cent YoY to ARS9.18bn. Net profit recovered from a loss of ARS144m in the 3Q18 to finish at ARS60m. Adjusted EBITDA advanced 2.7 per cent YoY to ARS2.65bn, while the margin reached 28.8 per cent from 25.9 per cent.

"The unexpected result in the August primary elections lead to a high financial and economic volatility that eroded the incipient recovery previously observed in some of the macroeconomic variables," said Sergio Faifman, CEO.

"In this context, cement demand was softer than expected, thus we remained focused on executing cost-control initiatives oriented towards optimising our production footprint, as our project in L'Amalí continues as scheduled to kick in the 2Q20," added Mr Faifman.