Mexican cement giant Cemex, which has facilities in 34 US states including a marine terminal in Southern California, has reported that net sales in 2009 were down 28 percent to $14.5 billion compared to the previous year. Earnings for the Monterrey, Mexico-based firm also fell 35 percent in 2009 to $2.7 billion.
The losses were smaller than predicted, however analysts still see the need for overall improvement in the firm's operational performance.
"A few months ago, Cemex's main problem was debt. Now, I think that issue has been resolved and the main problem will be the company's operations, which have continued to slump," analyst Patricio Rivera of Mexico City-based financial group IXE told BNamericas.
In its Q4 report, the publicly traded Cemex announced net income of $265 million, excluding a one-time loss from the sale of Cemex operations in Australia last year.
Net sales for Q4 were down 17 percent compared to the year-ago period to $3.44 billion and earnings fell in Q4 by 37 percent to $474 million.
