Loma Negra Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Call - Recovery Loses Momentum, Margins Under Pressure

Conference Operator, Conference Call Moderator, Conference Services: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Loma Negra Fourth Quarter 2025 conference call and webcast. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the Star key followed by 0. After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Mr. Sergio Faifman will be responding in Spanish immediately following an English translation. To ask a question, you may press Star and then 1 on your telephone keypads. To withdraw your questions, please press Star and 2. Please also note today’s event is being recorded. At this time, I’d like to turn the conference call over to Mr. Diego Jalón, Head of IR. Mr. Diego, please go ahead.

Diego Jalón, Head of Investor Relations, Loma Negra: Thank you. Good morning and welcome to Loma Negra’s earnings conference call. By now, everyone should have access to our earnings press release and the presentation for today’s call, both of which were distributed yesterday after market close. Joining me on the call this morning are Sergio Faifman, our CEO and Vice President of the Board of Directors, Marcos Gradin, our CFO, and Lucrecia Loureiro, our Human Capital, Sustainability and Legal Affairs Director. Sergio and Marcos will be available for the Q&A session. Before we proceed, I would like to make the following safe harbor statements. Today’s call will contain forward-looking statements. I refer you to the forward-looking statements section of our earnings release and recent filing with the SEC. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new or changed events or circumstances.

This conference call will also include discussion on non-GAAP financial measures. The full reconciliation to the corresponding financial measures is included in the earnings press release. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Sergio.

Sergio Faifman, Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of the Board of Directors, Loma Negra: Thank you, Diego. Hello, everyone, thank you for joining us this morning. I would like to start my presentation by discussing the highlights of the quarter. Marcos will take you through our market review and financial results. Following that, I will share some final remarks before opening the call to other questions. Starting with slide 2. We are pleased to present Loma Negra’s fourth and final quarter of the year. In terms of volume, the fourth quarter largely mirrored the trend seen in prior quarters, with cement dispatch declined 1.2% year-over-year. Overall, 2025 represents a year of gradual recovery for Argentine economy and to a lesser extent for the cement industry. While volumes show a year-over-year improvement, the rebound progressed more slowly than they initially anticipate and lost some momentum in the second half of the year.

Against this backdrop, net revenue totaled ARS 225 billion for the quarter, equivalent to $152 million, reflecting a 1.7% year-over-year decline versus fourth quarter 2024. On a sequential basis, however, performance remaining broadly stable, seeing virtually narrowing the gap observed early in the year. In this style challenging demand environment, consolidated adjustment EBITDA reached $37 million with a margin of 19.7% for the quarter. It is important to note that the comparison base was particularly demanding as margin in the same period last year were exceptionally strong. Sequentially, fourth quarter profitability remaining in line with recent quarters. For full year 2025, adjustment EBITDA amount to $146 million with a margin of 21.3%, representing a contraction of 454 basis points compared to 2024.

Turning to the balance sheet, net debt declined by $23 million quarter-over-quarter to $183 million, resulting in a debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.47 times, reinforcing the company’s solid financial position. I will now turn the call over to Lucrecia, who will present our newly released sustainability report and its key highlights. Please, Lucrecia, go ahead.

Lucrecia Loureiro, Director of Human Capital, Sustainability and Legal Affairs, Loma Negra: Thank you, Sergio. Good morning, everyone. Please turn to slide 3 for a review of our ESG highlights for the year. We take great satisfaction in releasing the fifth edition of our sustainability report, which details our environmental, social, and governance management and the actions we carry out to build the company prepared for the challenges of the future with a focus on ethics, transparency, and long-term sustainable value creation. In 2025, we achieved significant progress across of our environmental priorities. Compared to our 2021 baseline, CO₂ equivalent emissions were reduced by 22%, reflecting our ongoing decarbonization effort. We also advanced our circular economy strategy by valorizing 85% of the waste generated, recovering more than 270,000 tons of waste and by-products using alternative materials and fuels, including biomass in cement productions.

In terms of water stewardship, total water withdrawal decreased by 3.5% with a notable 21% reduction in water stress area compared to 2024. Additionally, air quality improvement continue with PM10 emissions from cement production declining by 9.3% year-over-year, underscoring our commitment to responsible low impact operations. Turning to our social impact and community engagement, 2025 was a year of a strong collaboration and meaningful outreach. We worked alongside 700 partner organizations to implement social programs and projects, while 172 initiatives were supported through the different programs of the Fundación Loma Negra, reaching a total of more than 90,000 beneficiaries. We reached a historic milestone, the launch of a new 25 kilo bag. This initiative safeguards the health and well-being of industry.

Over the course of five years, we invested more than $65 million in our plant. This year marks a significant milestone for our company. Loma Negra celebrates 100 years of contributing to Argentina’s sustainable and productive development. We are committed to the principles that have guide our actions for a century in pursuit of our purpose of transforming people’s lives through sustainable growth. Build on 100 years of legacy, we honor our past while continuing to build the future with responsibility and vision. Our fifth sustainability report reflects that path. I will now hand off the call to Marcos, who will walk you through our market review and financial results. Please, Marcos, go ahead.

Marcos Gradin, Chief Financial Officer, Loma Negra: Thank you, Lucrecia. Good morning, everyone. Please turn to slide 5. The latest release of the EMAE, Argentina’s monthly economic activity indicator, show a 3.5% year-over-year increase, reversing the downturn trend observed in the previous couple of months. As a result, full year 2025 economic growth reached 4.4%. However, a deeper look at sector-level performance reveals significant divergences. Agriculture, mining, and financial intermediation rank among the strongest contributors to growth. In contrast, industry and commerce continue to show constructions. As for construction, activity remained broadly flat, showing virtually no change compared to the previous year. Within this macro backdrop, the cement industry posted a broadly flat quarter, reversing the decline recorded in previous period and closing the year with 5.6% growth.

After a more encouraging start to the year, growth expectations were affected by the electoral process and uncertainty surrounded it, together with financial and FX tensions that waited on the recovery momentum. Looking at dispatch dynamics, bulk segment outperformed, supported by larger-scale projects, including residential developments, as well as logistic and infrastructure works. In contrast, bulk cement volumes contracted, reflecting weaker retail demand. The individual and small contractor segments remains more subdued in the current environment of monetary tightening and interest rate volatility. As we move into 2026, we expect the sectors that have lagged behind to gradually catch up, supported by a more flexible monetary stance. Given that these sectors are among the most employment intensive, their recovery should contribute to greater dynamism in overall economic activity. It will also be important to closely monitor cement demand in March and April.

The start of the year has been relatively weak, not only due to typical summer seasonality, but also reflecting still cautious activity levels. Looking ahead, we expect recently announced investment initiatives, including infrastructure programs, broad corridors, and mining and energy projects, to gradually begin supporting dispatch volumes as we move past the summer period. Turning to slide 6 for a review of our top line performance by segment. Fourth quarter revenues declined 1.7% year-over-year, continuing the sequential improvement trend and meaningful, narrowing the contraction observed early in the year. The performance was mainly explained by the cement segment, while concrete delivered strong growth. In cement, masonry cement and lime, revenues decreased 4.4% year-over-year, mainly reflecting softer pricing conditions compared to the same period last year.

Sequentially, prices improved for the second consecutive quarter, extending the real-term recovery and reducing the year-over-year gap. Volumes declined 1.2% year-over-year. Bulk cement continued to outperform, supported by stronger activity from concrete producers, large-scale projects, and public works. In contrast, bulk cement volumes continued to lag as retail demand remained subdued and economic softer and financial volatility. Since our segment also include masonry cement and lime, products that tend to follow dynamics similar to bulk cement, this mixed effects weighs on our segment performance when compared to industry statistics, which reflects only gray cement volumes. Concrete revenues increased 37% year-over-year, driven by a 62% expansion in volumes, partially offset by competitive pricing dynamics. Growth was mainly supported by infrastructure works in Santa Fe and private logistic related developments. Aggregate revenues were essentially stable, down 0.9% year-over-year.

Volumes increased 8.2%, reflecting stronger road construction and railroad related activity. However, pricing and product mix, particularly a higher share of the fine aggregates with lower average prices, upset the positive volume contribution. Railroads revenues declined 8.9% in the quarter. Although transported volumes increased 2.8%, weaker pricing and the continuing disruption of the Bahía Blanca rail line impacted longer haul traffic, particularly grain, gypsum, and frac sand, reducing ton kilometers and overall revenues. For full year 2025, consolidated revenues declined 7.8% to ARS 848 billion from ARS 920 billion in 2024, while cement volumes increased 2.5%.

Moving on to slide 8, consolidated gross profit declined by 29.1%, while gross margin contracted by 906 basis points year-over-year to 23.5%. Margins show a sequential recovery compared to the previous quarter. Cost of sales increased by 11.5% year-over-year, primarily driven by higher costs in the cement segment, along with a greater depreciation impact following the completion of the 25 kilogram bagging project. Cost performance in fourth quarter 2024 represented a challenging comparison base. Regarding the cement segment, cost of sales increased by 12% year-over-year. Higher maintenance expenses and increased utilization of spare parts and supplies, together with a greater impact from packaging costs related to the implementation of 25 kilo program, put upward pressure on our cost. Energy inputs continued to support cost management efforts, particularly thermal energy.

On a sequential basis, unit cost including depreciation remained almost flat, increasing only 0.8% quarter-over-quarter. The contraction in cement was followed by a decline in aggregates while the concrete and railroad segments posted improvements. Finally, SG&A expenses increased by 6.3%, mainly driven by a higher allowance for doubtful accounts and increased IT expenses, partially offset by lower freight and marketing costs. As a percentage of sales, SG&A stood at 12.9%, up 97 basis points from the fourth quarter of 2024. For fiscal year 2025, gross profit declined by 24.8%, while margin contraction by 493 basis points to 21.8%. Please turn to slide 9.

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $37 million, while in pesos it reached ARS 44 billion, reflecting a 33.4% year-over-year decline. This decrease was primarily driven by lower EBITDA generation in the cement segment, while the remaining segments posted improvements. Consequently, the consolidated EBITDA margin contracted to 19.7%, representing a 938 basis points decline year-over-year. On a sequential basis, the margin remained broadly stable, decreasing 114 basis points quarter-over-quarter. Additionally, the higher contribution from other segments which operate with structurally lower margins also weighed on the consolidated margin. In the cement segment, adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 22.7% compared to 37.7% in the fourth quarter of 2024, which represented a particularly strong comparison base.

The year-over-year decline was largely explained by higher cost of sales and softer pricing dynamics. Pricing has shown a sequential improvement, it still remain below prior year levels. Performance was also impacted by higher SG&A expenses and a lower contribution from other gains and losses during the quarter. In the concrete segment, adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 326 basis points, but remaining negative territory, coming in at -2.8% compared to -6.1% in the fourth quarter of 2024. The recovery in sales volumes helped diluted fixed costs. Softer pricing dynamics in a highly competitive environment continued to weigh on the segment’s performance. Turning to aggregates, adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 80 basis points year-over-year to -8.1% from -8.9% in the same quarter last year.

Although volumes continued to expand, profitability remained constrained by a competitive pricing environment and unfavorable sales mix with a higher share of lower margin products. Finally, in the railroad segment, adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 233 basis points year-over-year, reaching 1.9% in the fourth quarter of 2025, compared to -0.4% in the prior year period. Volumes posted a modest increase, mainly driven by higher shipments of granitic aggregates. The continued disruption of Vía Blanca railway line constrained longer-haul traffic, particular grades, gypsum, and frac sand. These challenges were partially offset by ongoing cost control initiatives. For fiscal year 2025, adjusted EBITDA totaled ARS 146 million or ARS 181 billion, down 24% with a margin contraction of 454 basis points to 21.3%.

Moving to the bottom line on slide 11. Net profit attributable to the owners of the company totaled ARS 6.2 billion compared to ARS 29.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024. The decline was primarily driven by weaker operating performance, along with a lower net financial result, reflecting a reduced impact on inflation. This was partially offset by lower income tax expenses. On the financial side, the company reported a net financial loss of ARS 9.8 billion for the quarter, compared to a net financial gain of ARS 1.1 billion in the same period of 2024. The year-over-year variation was mainly explained by a lower gain from the net monetary position, reflected a more normalized inflation environment.

Additionally, net financial expenses decreased 2.1% to ARS 14.4 billion, primarily driven by higher financial income as a result of stronger average cash during the period. For full year 2025, net income attributable to owners of the company totaled ARS 23.6 billion compared to ARS 202.3 billion in 2024. The year-over-year decline was primarily driven by the negative impact of the financial result, particularly the reduced contribution from the net monetary position, along with a weakened operation performance.

Moving on to the balance sheet, as you can see on slide 12, we ended the quarter with net debt of ARS 266 billion and a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.47 times, up from 0.89 times at the end of 2024, and maintaining a comfortable maturity profile. Cash flow generated from operating activities totaled ARS 58 billion compared to ARS 62.8 billion in the same period of last year. The weaker operating performance was partially offset by a favorable working capital dynamic. Inventories increased at a lower pace than in fourth quarter 2024, releasing cash together with lower income tax payments. This more than offsets the additional cash requirements for higher trade receivables and a lower contribution from accounts payable.

Regarding investment activities, the company generated ARS 34.9 billion during the quarter, primarily driven by the liquidation of short-term investments that have been funded with the proceeds from the Class V bond issuance and were subsequently used to repay the Class 2 bond at maturity. CapEx totaled ARS 17.5 billion, decreasing quarter-over-quarter following the completion of the 25-kilogram bagging project. In financial activities, the company used ARS 129 billion during the quarter, mainly related to the repayment of borrowings, particularly the December maturity of the Class 2 corporate bonds. In US dollar terms, net debt stood at $183 million with an average duration of 1 year. As of quarter end, 85% of total debt was denominated in US dollars, with the remaining balance in pesos.

Subsequent to quarter end in January 2026, the company issued a new Class 6 corporate bond for $60 million with a 33-month tenure. The transaction was multiple times oversubscribed, reflecting the strong investor demand and allowed the company to secure a 6.5% interest rate. This issuance fully covers the company U.S. dollar maturities for this year. For our final remarks, I will hand back the call to Sergio. Thank you.

Sergio Faifman, Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of the Board of Directors, Loma Negra: Thank you, Marcos. To finalize the presentation, I please ask you to turn to slide 14. Following a solid first half of the year, the recovery lost momentum in the second semester as political uncertainty during the election period, together with financial and FX tension, affect overall activity level. The economy is estimated to have expanded by around 4% in 2025. The rebound in the cement industry was more moderate than anticipated, with seeming room still to recover from the sharp contraction of 2024. Within this context of tight monetary condition, margins remained under pressure. Loma Negra’s strong focus on cost discipline, operational efficiency, was essential to preserving profitability in a challenging demand environment. We remain confident that the structural growth driver of the industry are intact.

The normalization process and the full transmission of macroeconomic improvement to the real economy may take longer than previously expected.

Looking ahead to 2026, we are optimistic the continuing macro stabilization and a gradual easing of monetary constraint will help restore dynamics to economic activity. That said, with several investment initiative have been announced, particularly in infrastructure, road corridors, mining, and energy. These projects have not yet translated into higher volume. We expect their impact to materialize progressively as execution advance throughout the year. Argentina continues to face significant infrastructure gaps that must be addressed to sustain long-term growth, and Loma Negra is well positioned to play a central role in this next phase of development. This is the end of our prepared remarks. We are now ready to take questions. Operator, please open the call for questions.

Conference Operator, Conference Call Moderator, Conference Services: Thank you. We will now conduct a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star and then the number one on your telephone keypads. Confirmation tone will indicate that your line is in the question queue. You may press star and two if you would like to remove your line. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset prior to pressing the keys. Once again, star and then one on your telephone keypad will join you into the question queue. We would also like to ask that you please limit yourselves, your questions to one question and one follow-up. If you have additional questions, you may re-queue for those questions and they will be addressed. Also, please note that Mr. Sergio Faifman will be responding in Spanish immediately following an English translation.

Please hold momentarily while we assemble our roster. Our first question comes from Alejandra Obregón from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead with your question.

Alejandra Obregón, Analyst, Morgan Stanley: Thank you. Hi, good morning, everyone. My question is on the energy side. I was wondering if you can talk about your approach on energy management this year, particularly in terms of energy mix, fuel contracting, hedging, perhaps shifting into renewables and alternatives and all these sorts of things and what energy cash cost trends should we be thinking about for the year ahead of perhaps additional volatility in this particular theme? Thank you.

Sergio Faifman, Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of the Board of Directors, Loma Negra: Hi, Alejandra. Thank you for your question. With respect to thermal energy, in the last few years, we are utilizing an energy matrix that is primarily natural gas. The cost of natural gas due to the improvements in production with Vaca Muerta, it’s been lowering. As we commented last year that we started signing contracts at lower prices, this year, it’s happening the same. Generally, our contracts go from October to April of the next year. We already closed our contracts starting October of this year and until April of 2027, with prices even lower from the contracts we signed a year ago. Pointually and on a lower percentage, we already signed contract for two or three years.

Regarding electricity, we are already having some improvements. On one hand, we are improving the participation of renewable energy source. This in line with our sustainability guidance, we reached 67% last year, and we are above that this year in the first quarter of 2026. Last year, we signed another contract of renewable energy that will start this year with very good price.

Alejandra Obregón, Analyst, Morgan Stanley: Thank you. That was very clear.

Sergio Faifman, Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of the Board of Directors, Loma Negra: You’re welcome.

Conference Operator, Conference Call Moderator, Conference Services: Our next question comes from Andres Cardona from Citigroup. Please go ahead with your question.

Marcos Gradin, Chief Financial Officer, Loma Negra: Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I have a question about 2026 guidance. If you could comment a bit about volumes and margins. Maybe in addition to that, give us some color about the first two specifically. Thank you. As you know, we typically don’t give guidance of margins, EBITDA, and other figures. Regarding volumes, we can speak about that. We do believe that this year we are going to see it’s going to be a year of growth. Even though January and February figures were below in the year-over-year comparison. I believe that it’s mainly due to the activities for this year are lagged in time, and we did have some festivities during February that also affected the dispatches for February.

When we see the average daily dispatches are similar to the ones we saw last year. We believe that many projects that are about to start, and we are participating in many tenders, that should start impacting volumes in the upcoming months. This should be translated into growth of a single digit, but in the high range. In terms of margins, as we also commented in our last call. We were in a process of improving prices, and that was translated in the figures of the last quarter that I presented. We expect this process to continue in the upcoming months. This should have an impact in the recovery of margins for the upcoming quarters.

Conference Operator, Conference Call Moderator, Conference Services: Our next question comes from Marcelo Surlon from Itaú. Please go ahead with your question.

Marcelo Surlon, Analyst, Itaú: Yes. Hi. Hi, everyone. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. There are just two follow-ups. Well, the first regarding the sales volumes expected for 2026. When you look into the AFCP’s data, it is showing a 6% decline for the first two months on a year-over-year base. I’d like to hear from you guys, what could we expect in terms of sales volumes from Argentina in 2026? My second question is related to prices. You guys posted an increase in the price realization in the fourth Q. I just would like to understand, you know, what are the company expectations regarding prices, especially in dollar terms, moving through 2026? That’s pretty much it. Thank you.

Sergio Faifman, Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of the Board of Directors, Loma Negra: Hi, Marcelo. Thank you for your question.

Marcos Gradin, Chief Financial Officer, Loma Negra: Regarding volumes, as I just mentioned, we are seeing the first two months of the year 6% below the year-on-year comparison. If you see historical figures, January of last year was a pretty sound month in terms of volume dispatches. We are seeing that the activity levels are lagging, are still lagging after the holiday season. At the start of the year, it’s been a little bit delayed. Specifically in February, we have holidays that last year were in March, so that impacted the figure for February. What we are expecting for the volumes for the upcoming months, we are expecting to see a recovery from the volumes we saw last year.

Regarding prices, as you know, we don’t give any guidance in terms of pricing. As we commented last year, by the second half of the year, we started a recovery process. It was that you could see in the figures of the fourth Q. The situation will continue in the first month of this year. We expect this tendency to continue. If there is no sudden changes in the effects, this tendency should continue in the upcoming quarters.

Marcelo Surlon, Analyst, Itaú: Great. Thank you so much, guys.

Conference Operator, Conference Call Moderator, Conference Services: This concludes the question and answer session. I’d like to turn the floor back over to Diego for closing remarks.

Marcos Gradin, Chief Financial Officer, Loma Negra: Thanks again for joining us today. We appreciate your continued interest in Summa and look forward to reconnect with you on our next call. Have a great day.

Conference Operator, Conference Call Moderator, Conference Services: The conference has now concluded. We do thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect your line.