Category: Regions

Telmex, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, reported a profit of $606 million in the second quarter as profit margins rose to 16.3 percent from 14.5 percent a year earlier. Total sales were up 27 percent to $3.65 billion. The company has been acquiring telecoms firms in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru and reported increased sales in all those countries.

Mexican industrial conglomerate Alfa posted a net profit $172 million in the second quarter, up 65 percent year-on-year. Revenue rose 22 percent to $1.6 billion. The company attributed the gains to increased sales of petrochemicals, refrigerated products, and aluminum auto components. The results include sales from steel unit Hylsamex, which Alfa has agreed to sell to Argentina´s Techint.

Televisa signed an agreement with Grupo Financiero Inbursa, controlled by Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, to take a 25 percent stake in a new low-cost airline called Vuela Compania de Aviacion. Other partners in the venture include Discovery Americas and TACA airlines. Vuela plans to begin flights in the first half of 2006, joining three other low-cost airlines that plan to start flying in Mexico next year.

Mexican copper mining giant Grupo Mexico posted a net profit of $261 million in the second quarter, up from a $198 million a year earlier. Revenue came in at $1.3 billion. The company´s net profit was $490 million in the first half of the year, up 35 percent. Grupo Mexico owns controlling stakes in Southern Peru Copper, US-based Asarco and Mexican railway Ferromex.

Mexico’s central bank left the country´s benchmark interest rate at 9.75 percent Friday, its highest level in over two years. The bank said inflation has been slowing but remains above the target range of 2 to 4 percent. The annual inflation rate was 4.3 percent in June, down from last year´s 5.2 percent. The central bank has increased interest rates 12 times since February 2004.

Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico’s state-owned oil monopoly, resumed full crude production in the Campeche Sound, which accounts for about 85 percent of the company´s output, after it shut down operations last week due to Hurricane Emily. The shutdown affected production of 2.95 million barrels of oil and 1.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Mexican cement giant Cementos Mexicanos (Cemex) reported net profit of $733 million in the second quarter, up 197 percent year-on-year. Revenue was up 125 percent to $4.4 billion, largely on the back of Cemex´s integration with British cement maker RMC. The company´s net debt was $9.6 billion at the end of June, down $800 million in three months.

Hurricane Emily weakened further Thursday after slamming Mexico for the second time and knocking down trees and power lines in the city of San Fernando on the gulf coast. Officials in Mexico´s Tamaulipas state evacuated as many as 17,000 people from coastal areas while heavy rain pelted the state of Nuevo Leon, home to the nation’s third-largest city of Monterrey. Pemex estimates the storm cost the company at least $400 million in lost oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.