6-K

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM 6-K

 

 

REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER

PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 or 15d-16

UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the month of March 2024

Commission File Number: 001-14946

 

 

Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V.

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

 

 

Avenida Ricardo Margáin Zozaya #325, Colonia Valle del Campestre,

San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León 66265, México

(Address of principal executive offices)

 

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

Form 20-F ☒   Form 40-F ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1):

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7):

 

 

 


Contents

 

1.    Press release from Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. (“Cemex”) (NYSE: CX), dated March 22, 2024, regarding the presentation of its 2023 Integrated Report “Setting the Pace”.


SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

      Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V.
      (Registrant)
Date:   March 22, 2024     By:   /s/ Rafael Garza Lozano
        Name: Rafael Garza Lozano
        Title: Chief Comptroller

 

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EXHIBIT INDEX

 

EXHIBIT
NO.
  

DESCRIPTION

1.    Press release from Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. (“Cemex”) (NYSE: CX), dated March 22, 2024, regarding the presentation of its 2023 Integrated Report “Setting the Pace”.

 

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EX-1

Exhibit 1

 

LOGO

Setting the Pace: Cemex presents operational and sustainability highlights in its 2023 Integrated Report

Monterrey, Mexico. March 22, 2024 – Cemex presented today its 2023 Integrated Report, titled “Setting the Pace”, in which it provides an analysis of its strategic vision, operational performance, and value creation in a year in which it continued to set EBITDA and decarbonization records.

In 2023, Cemex not only achieved record EBITDA growth and set the stage for returning to investment grade but also made substantial progress in its decarbonization commitments, reducing Scope 1 and 2 specific CO2 emissions by 13% and 12%, respectively, since 2020. Cemex also launched its Regenera waste management business worldwide as part of the expansion of its profitable Urbanization Solutions portfolio.

“Our performance is a testament to the focus and commitment of our employees worldwide,” said Fernando A. González, CEO of Cemex. “Their relentless innovation, unwavering dedication, and steadfast perseverance are creating a more resilient future for generations to come as well as a profitable future for Cemex.”

Some of the main accomplishments presented in Cemex’s 2023 Integrated Report are:

Future in Action:

 

   

From 2020, Cemex reduced Scope 1 and 2 specific CO2 emissions by 13% and 12%, respectively, a pace that would have taken 15 years to accomplish previously.

 

   

First company in the industry to provide validated environmental impact disclosure for 100% of cement products.

 

   

Vertua products account for 56% of total cement sales, with an average 45% CO2 reduction.

 

   

Vertua is now a US$7.2 billion global brand.

 

   

Increased alternative fuel usage to 37%, the highest level in Cemex’s history.

 

   

Decreased clinker factor to 72%, a record for the company’s cement operations.

 

   

Repurposed close to 28 million tons of waste and byproducts through the Regenera business line.

 

   

Implemented water optimization plans in 30% of its sites located in water stressed areas.

Financial:

 

   

Full-year EBITDA grew 25%, reaching a record US$3.35 billion.

 

   

Free cash flow more than doubled to US$1.2 billion, reaching a six-year high.

 

   

Consolidated net sales reached US$17.4 billion, an increase of 12%.

 

   

EBITDA margin expanded 2 percentage points, recovering 2021 margins.

 

   

Urbanization Solutions business grew 31%.

Stakeholder Engagement:

 

   

Achieved a Net Promoter Score of 70, surpassing the industry customer loyalty benchmark.

 

   

More than 60,000 customers globally have been onboarded in the Cemex Go digital platform.

 

   

Processed approximately 60% of global orders through Cemex Go.

 

   

Celebrated 25 years of its flagship social program Patrimonio Hoy which has benefitted 665,000 families and improved the living conditions of over 3 million people to date.

 

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To read Cemex’s 2023 Integrated Report, please visit:

www.cemex.com/IntegratedReport2023

About Cemex

Cemex is a global construction materials company that is building a better future through sustainable products and solutions. Cemex is committed to achieving carbon neutrality through relentless innovation and industry-leading research and development. Cemex is at the forefront of the circular economy in the construction value chain and is pioneering ways to increase the use of waste and residues as alternative raw materials and fuels in its operations with the help of new technologies. Cemex offers cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, and urbanization solutions in growing markets around the world, powered by a multinational workforce focused on providing a superior customer experience enabled by digital technologies. For more information, please visit: www.cemex.com

Contact information

Analyst and Investor Relations

Fabián Orta

+52 (81) 8888-4327

ir@cemex.com

Media Relations

Jorge Pérez

+52 (81) 8259-6666

jorgeluis.perez@cemex.com

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This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. (“Cemex”, “we”, “our”, “us”, “our company”) intends these forward-looking statements to be covered by the “safe harbor” provisions for forward-looking statements within the meaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, these statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as “will,” “may,” “assume,” “might,” “should,” “could,” “continue,” ‘would,” “can,” “consider,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “envision,” “plan,” “believe,” “foresee,” “predict,” “potential,” ‘target,” “strategy,” “intend,” “aimed” or other forward-looking words. These forward-looking statements reflect, as of the date such forward-looking statements are made, unless otherwise indicated, Cemex’s expectations and projections about future events based on Cemex’s knowledge of present facts and circumstances, and assumptions about future events. These forward-looking statements and information are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including but not limited to statements related to Cemex’s plans, objectives, and expectations (financial or otherwise). Although Cemex believes that its expectations are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to be correct, and actual results may vary materially from historical results or results anticipated by forward-looking statements due to various factors. Some of the risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors that could cause results to differ, or that otherwise could have an impact on us or our consolidated entities include those discussed in Cemex’s most recent annual report and those detailed from time to time in Cemex’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Mexican Stock Exchange (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores), which factors are incorporated herein by reference. Such factors also include, but are not limited to: changes in Mexico’s or other countries’, in which we operate, general economic, political and social conditions, including new governments, elections, changes in inflation, interest and foreign exchange rates, employment levels, population growth, consumer confidence and the liquidity of the financial and capital markets; the cyclical activity of the construction sector and reduced construction activity in our end markets; our exposure to sectors that impact our and our clients’ businesses, particularly those operating in the commercial and residential construction sectors, and the infrastructure and energy sectors; volatility in pension plan asset values and liabilities, which may require cash contributions to the pension plans; changes in spending levels for residential and commercial construction; the availability of short-term credit lines or working capital facilities, which can assist us in connection with market cycles; any impact of not maintaining investment grade debt rating on our cost of capital and on the cost of the products and services we purchase; availability of raw materials and related fluctuating prices of raw materials, as well as of goods and services in general, in particular increases in prices as a result of inflation; our ability to maintain and expand our distribution network and maintain favorable relationships with third parties who supply us with equipment and essential suppliers; competition in the markets in which we offer our products and services; the impact of environmental cleanup costs and other remedial actions, and other liabilities relating to existing and/or divested businesses; our ability to secure and permit aggregates reserves in strategically located areas; the timing and amount of federal, state and local funding for infrastructure; changes in our effective tax rate; our ability to comply and implement technologies that aim to reduce CO2 emissions in jurisdictions with carbon regulations in place; the legal and regulatory environment, including environmental, energy, tax, antitrust, human rights and labor welfare, acquisition-related rules and regulations; the effects of currency fluctuations on our results of operations and financial conditions; our ability to satisfy our obligations under our material debt agreements, the indentures that govern our outstanding notes, and our other debt instruments and financial obligations, including our subordinated notes with no fixed maturity and other financial obligations; adverse legal or regulatory proceedings or disputes, such as class actions or enforcement or other proceedings brought by government and regulatory agencies; our ability to protect our reputation; our ability to consummate asset sales, fully integrate newly acquired businesses, achieve cost-savings from our cost-reduction initiatives, implement our pricing initiatives for our products, and generally meet our business strategy’s goals; the increasing reliance on information technology infrastructure for our sales, invoicing, procurement, financial statements, and other processes that can adversely affect our sales and operations in the event that the infrastructure does not work as intended, experiences technical difficulties, or is subjected to invasion, disruption, or damage caused by circumstances beyond our control, including cyber-attacks, catastrophic events, power outages, natural disasters, computer system or network failures, or other security breaches; climate change, in particular reflected in weather conditions, including but not limited to excessive rain and snow, and disasters such as earthquakes and floods, that could affect our facilities or the markets in which we offer our products and services or from where we source our raw materials; trade barriers, including tariffs or import taxes and changes in

 

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existing trade policies or changes to, or withdrawals from, free trade agreements, including the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement; availability and cost of trucks, railcars, barges and ships, as well as their licensed operators and drivers, for transport of our materials; labor shortages and constraints; our ability to hire, effectively compensate and retain our key personnel and maintain satisfactory labor relations; our ability to detect and prevent money laundering, terrorism financing and corruption, as well as other illegal activities; terrorist and organized criminal activities, social unrest, as well as geopolitical events, such as hostilities, war and armed conflicts, including the current war between Russia and Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East; the impact of pandemics, epidemics, or outbreaks of infectious diseases and the response of governments and other third parties, which could adversely affect, among other matters, the ability of our operating facilities to operate at full or any capacity, supply chains, international operations, availability of liquidity, investor confidence and consumer spending, as well as the availability of, and demand for, our products and services; changes in the economy that affect demand for consumer goods, consequently affecting demand for our products and services; the depth and duration of an economic slowdown or recession, instability in the business landscape and lack of availability of credit; declarations of insolvency or bankruptcy, or becoming subject to similar proceedings; and, natural disasters and other unforeseen events (including global health hazards such as COVID-19). Many factors could cause Cemex’s expectations, expected results, and/or projections expressed in this press release not being reached and/or not producing the expected benefits and/or results, as any such benefits or results are subject to uncertainties, costs, performance, and rate of implementation of technologies, some of which are not yet proven. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from historical results, performance, or achievements and/or results, performance or achievements expressly or implicitly anticipated by the forward-looking statements, or otherwise could have an impact on us or our consolidated entities. Forward-looking statements should not be considered guarantees of future performance, nor the results or developments are indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. Actual results of Cemex’s operations and the development of market conditions in which Cemex operates, or other circumstances or assumptions suggested by such statements may differ materially from those described in, or suggested by, the forward-looking statements contained herein. Any or all of Cemex’s forward-looking statements may turn out to be inaccurate and the factors identified above are not exhaustive. Accordingly, undue reliance on forward-looking statements should not be placed, as such forward-looking statements speak only as of the dates in which they are made. You should read this press release and carefully consider the risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may affect our business and operations. The information contained in this press release speaks only as of the date of this press release and is subject to change without notice, and except to the extent legally required, we expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this press release, whether to reflect any change in our expectations regarding those forward-looking statements, any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, or otherwise. You should review future reports we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the Mexican Stock Exchange (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores). This press release also includes statistical data, including, but not limited to, data regarding the production, distribution, marketing, and sale of cement, ready-mix concrete, clinker, aggregates, and Urbanization Solutions. Unless the context indicates otherwise, all references to pricing initiatives, price increases or decreases refer to Cemex’s prices for its products. We generated some of this data internally, and some were obtained from independent industry publications and reports that we believe to be reliable sources that were available as of the date of this press release. We have not independently verified this data nor sought the consent of any organizations to refer to their reports in this press release. This press release includes certain non-IFRS financial measures that differ from financial information presented by Cemex in accordance with IFRS in its financial statements and reports containing financial information. The aforementioned non-IFRS financial measures include “Operating EBITDA (operating earnings before other expenses, net plus depreciation and amortization)” and “Operating EBITDA Margin”. In this press release, “EBITDA” means “Operating EBITDA”. The closest IFRS financial measure to Operating EBITDA is “Operating earnings before other expenses, net”, as Operating EBITDA adds depreciation and amortization to the IFRS financial measure. Our Operating EBITDA Margin is calculated by dividing our Operating EBITDA for the period by our revenues as reported in our financial statements. We believe there is no close IFRS financial measure to compare Operating EBITDA Margin. These non-IFRS financial measures are designed to complement and should not be considered superior to financial measures calculated in accordance with IFRS. Although Operating EBITDA and Operating EBITDA Margin are not measures of operating performance, an alternative to cash flows or a measure of financial position under IFRS, Operating EBITDA is the financial measure used by Cemex’s management to review operating performance and profitability, for decision-making purposes and to allocate resources. Moreover, our Operating EBITDA is a measure used by Cemex’s creditors to review our ability to internally fund capital expenditures, service or incur debt and comply with financial covenants under our financing agreements. Furthermore, Cemex’s management regularly reviews our Operating EBITDA Margin by reportable segment and on a consolidated basis as a measure of performance and profitability. These non-IFRS financial measures do not have any standardized meaning and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Non-IFRS financial measures presented in this press release are being provided for informative purposes only and shall not be construed as investment, financial, or other advice. Important Notice: Caution about environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) and sustainability related data, metrics, and methodologies. The information in this press release includes non-financial metrics, estimates or other information that are subject to significant measurement uncertainties, which may include the methodology, collection and verification of data, various estimates and assumptions, and/or underlying data that is obtained from third parties, some of which cannot be independently verified. The preparation of certain information in this press release requires the application of a number of key judgments, assumptions and estimates, including with respect to the concept of sustainability. The reported measures in this press release reflect good faith estimates, assumptions and judgments at the given point in time. There is a risk that these judgments, estimates or assumptions may subsequently prove to be incorrect and/or may need to be restated or changed. Sustainability reporting is not yet subject to the same globally recognized or accepted reporting or accounting principles and rules as traditional financial reporting. Accordingly, there is a lack of commonly accepted reporting practices for us to follow or align to and ESG measures between organizations in our industry may be non-comparable. In addition, the maturity of underlying data, systems and controls that support non-financial reporting is generally considerably less sophisticated than the systems and internal controls for financial reporting and it also includes manual processes. This may result in non-comparable information between organizations and between reporting periods within organizations as methodologies develop. The further development of accounting and/or reporting standards could materially impact the performance metrics, data points and targets contained in this press release and the reader may therefore not be able to compare performance metrics, data points or targets from one reporting period to another, on a direct like-for-like basis. We plan to continue to enhance our methodology and processes to improve the robustness of our ESG reporting over time. Caution about the current lack of ESG related definitions or standards: There is currently no single globally recognized or accepted, consistent and comparable set of definitions or standards (legal, regulatory or otherwise) of, nor widespread cross-market consensus (a) as to what constitutes, a ‘green’, ‘social’ or ‘sustainable’ or having equivalent-labelled activity, product or asset; or (b) as to what precise attributes are required for a particular activity, product or asset to be defined as ‘green’, ‘social’ or ‘sustainable’ or such other equivalent label; or (c) as to climate and sustainable activities and their classification and reporting. Therefore, there is little certainty, and no assurance or representation is given that such activities and / or reporting of those activities will meet any present or future expectations or requirements for describing or classifying our activities as ‘green’, ‘social’ or ‘sustainable’ or attributing similar labels. We expect policies, regulatory requirements, standards, and definitions to be developed and continuously evolve over time. Caution about forward-looking ESG or sustainability statements in this press release: Certain sections in this press release contain ESG or sustainability related forward-looking statements, such as aims, ambitions, estimates, forecasts, plans, projections and targets and other metrics, including but not limited to: climate and emissions, Business and Human Rights (BHR), corporate governance, R&D and partnerships, development of products and services that intend to address sustainability-related concerns and sustainability related targets/ambitions when finalized. There are many significant uncertainties, assumptions, judgements, opinions, estimates, forecasts and statements made of future expectations underlying these forward-looking statements which could cause actual results, performance, outcomes or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: (a) the extent and pace of climate change, including the timing and manifestation of physical and transition risks, (b) the macroeconomic environment; (c) uncertainty around future climate-related policy, including the timely implementation and integration of adequate government policies; (d) the effectiveness of actions of governments, legislators, regulators, businesses, investors, customers and other stakeholders to mitigate the impact of climate and sustainability-related risks; (e) changes in customer behavior and demand, changes in the available technology for mitigation; (f) the roll-out of low or lower carbon infrastructure; (g) the availability of accurate, verifiable, reliable, consistent and comparable climate-related data; (h) lack of transparency and comparability of climate-related forward-looking methodologies; (i) variation in approaches and outcomes and variations in methodologies may lead to under or overestimates, and consequently present exaggerated indication of climate-related risk; and (j) reliance on assumptions and future uncertainty (calculations of forward-looking metrics are complex and require many methodological choices and assumptions). Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements. Furthermore, changing national and international standards, industry and scientific practices, regulatory requirements and market expectations regarding climate change, which remain under continuous development, are subject to different interpretations. There can be no assurance that these standards, practices, requirements and expectations will not be interpreted differently than our understanding when defining its sustainability related ambitions and targets or change in a manner that substantially increases the cost or effort for us to achieve such ambitions and targets. No offer of securities or investment. The information, statements and opinions contained in this press release do not constitute a public offer under any applicable legislation, an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any securities or financial instruments, or any advice or recommendation with respect to such securities or other financial instruments. This press release, the information, statements and disclosure included in this press release are not formally part of any offering documents and are not contractually binding.

 

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