By Anthony Harrup

MEXICO CITY--Mexican building-materials company Cemex nearly tripled its net profit in the first quarter thanks to an asset sale, while revenue declined on lower sales volume.

Cemex posted net profit of $734 million for the January-March period, up from $254 million in the year-earlier quarter. The company attributed the gain largely to the sale of its operations in the Dominican Republic, which closed at the end of January.

Sales in the first quarter fell 7% to $3.65 billion, with higher prices offset by lower volumes. Adjusted for foreign-exchange moves, sales and acquisitions, sales in the quarter were down 1%.

Cement sales by volume fell 2% to 10.2 million metric tons, aggregates volume was down 4% at 30.2 million tons, and ready-mix concrete volume rose 1% to 10.3 million cubic meters.

Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 18% to $601 million. In Mexico, results were affected by the depreciation of the Mexican peso which accounted for $65 million of the drop in Ebitda amid a tough comparison base given pre-election spending in 2024 and "the usual seasonality of the first year of a new government," Cemex said.

In the U.S., sales volumes were affected by unfavorable weather conditions and one less working day.

Cemex still expects Ebitda this year to be flat compared with 2024, and maintained its projected capital expenditures for this year at $1.4 billion.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2025 09:21 ET (13:21 GMT)

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