Cemex shares surged after it posted a surprise fourth-quarter profit, reaping benefits from ongoing debt and cost-reduction programs and asset sales.
The company, which operates in 50 countries and has a heavy U.S. dollar debt load. The currency volatility in the period caused a slight dip of 4 percent in its core profit, but that was also better than analysts? expectations.
The company reported a profit of $144 million compared with a loss of $178 million in the year-earlier quarter, helped by selling $700 million in assets and trimming its debt by $1 billion.
Cemex expects to reduce its total $15.3 billion debt by a further $2 billion in the next two years and it is planning to sell another $1 billion to $1.5 billion in assets over the same time frame, according to a presentation to investors.
Cemex?s business in the United States made the biggest contribution to the company?s net sales. U.S. sales jumped 7 percent, boosted by high demand from the residential and infrastructure sectors, even as oil well demand for cement dipped further, the company said.