Category: Argentina

Argentine industrial production rose 10.1 percent year-on-year in April, boosted largely by growth in the auto industry and the non-metallic mineral products sector. Capacity utilization in the industrial sector stood at 71 percent, compared to 68 percent a year earlier.

Electricite de France, the world’s largest power company, is in talks with Argentine investment fund Dolphin Group to sell its unprofitable unit Edenor, which provides electricity to Buenos Aires. EDF last month hired JPMorgan Chase to help it initiate preliminary talks to sell Edenor as it divests Latin American units to write off debt in preparation for an initial public offering in France.

Telecom Argentina posted a net profit of $97 million for the first quarter, a sharp increase from the $43 million posted a year earlier. Revenue was up 22 percent to $431 million. The company’s mobile customers rose 40 percent to 4.8 million users, while broadband customers increased by 73 percent to 226,000. Nortel, a subsidiary of Telecom Italia, owns 55 percent of Telecom Argentina.

Venezuela has promised to buy $150 million of Argentine domestic bonds. Argentina said it will assign a new issue of the bonds, known as Bodens, maturing in 2012 to the Venezuelan state development bank at market prices. Argentina will use the proceeds to pay down bonds it gave depositors in 2002 to compensate them for the seizure of their deposits following the country’s $95 billion debt default in late 2001.

Argentine oil and gas company YPF, part of Spain’s Repsol-YPF, posted net profit of $415 million for the first quarter, up from $384 million a year earlier. The company invested $214 million in the quarter and exported $719 million.

Argentine steelmaker Acindar posted a $53 million net profit for the first quarter, up 17% year-on-year. Sales rose 36% to $198 million. Acindar exports about 25% of its steel production. Brazil’s Companhia Siderúrgica Belgo-Mineira took control of Acindar last year after recapitalizing the company.

French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroën plans to invest $125 million in its plants in Argentina to boost output in the country by 110% this year. PSA also plans to start exporting from Argentina to markets beyond Latin America, including South Africa.

Industrial output in Argentina rose 4.1% year-on-year in March and 6.1% in the first quarter. Growth was led by the automobile sector, whose output rose 30% in the quarter. All other sectors registered output growth except tobacco, which dropped 27% year-on-year.

Argentina will continue to attract investors as its economy expands, according to Enrique Iglesias, president of the Inter-American Development Bank. Argentina’s GDP grew 9.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2004. Exports have jumped 34 percent over the past two years and consumers are becoming more confident about spending as unemployment falls. The country’s jobless rate dropped to 12.1 percent at the end of 2004, the lowest level in a decade.