Q4 EBITDA rose 4% to $934 million and 16% to $4.1 billion for the full year, driven by international presence and global diversification strategy.
Despite the weak performance in the U.S., the global building solutions company posted consolidated net sales increase of 13% in Q4 of 2006 to $4.5 billion versus the same period last year. The sales increase was due to higher cement, ready-mix and aggregates volumes and better supply dynamics in most of the Cemex markets. The management will continue exercising caution with Q1 fiscal 2007 EBITDA forecast to be 2% higher to $830 million than year ago quarter.
The company’s net sales were $4.3 billion, up 9% from a year earlier. EBITDA grew 6% to $868 million compared to the same period in 2006.
The global building-solutions company said that excluding one-time antidumping settlement proceeds from 2006, profits rose 12%. The management attributed the good performance in the quarter to higher cement and aggregates volumes, and better supply-demand dynamics in most of the company’s markets. While sales in Mexican and foreign markets continued to be strong, net sales in the United States decreased 20%.