Solid performers that buck the trend
Cemex, Mexico's biggest multinational company and the third-largest cement company in the world, just keeps growing. It was formed in 1906, growing to a $100 billion market capitalization, and has steadily bought plants throughout Latin America and in the US, Europe and Asia. "It is the best in the sector and maybe even the best in all of Latin America in terms of management," says Dan McGoey, equity analyst at Robert Fleming in New York.
Cemex became a global company in the mid-1980s when Mexico removed protectionist barriers and opened up to foreign investors. Since then it has bought several companies, spending $3.3 billion on acquisitions since 1991. Its acquisitions have included a 30% stake in Philippine cement company Rizal Cement, a major stake in Colombia's Cementos Diamante y Cementos Samper in 1996 and the Balcones Plant in Texas in 1994. This month it tendered for 6% of part-privatized Indonesian cement company Semen Gresik.
Cemex has consistently maintained operating margins at twice the industry average. In 1997 its ebitda stood at 31.5%, almost 10% higher than Switzerland-based Holder Bank, the largest cement company in the world.