Mexico's Cemex beats estimates in third quarter on higher prices, cost cuts

By Kylie Madry

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico's Cemex beat estimates to post a 19% jump in third-quarter core earnings as it boosted prices and benefited from cost-cutting measures.

The cement maker said on Tuesday that it had logged $882 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for July-September, comfortably above an LSEG consensus estimate of $858 million.

Increased prices helped revenue tick 5% higher, despite cement sales volumes being flat while volumes for ready-mix concrete and aggregates such as sand and gravel slipped slightly.

Cost-cutting measures including headcount reductions resulted in around $90 million in savings. Cemex's workforce dropped to just over 40,200 employees in the quarter, a 9% decline from the same period a year earlier.

Net income tumbled 35% to $264 million, mainly due to one-off gains the previous year from the sale of operations in Guatemala. Without that factor, net profit climbed 8%, Cemex said.

Under CEO Jaime Muguiro, who took the helm in April after his predecessor retired, Cemex has sought to shed non-core assets and focus more on its aggregates business in the United States. In July, he flagged that more divestitures were in the works.

(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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