CEMEX, S.A.B de C.V. (NYSE:CX) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 13, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Louisa Rodriguez - EVP, IR

Fernando Gonzalez - CEO

Maher Al-Haffar - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Carlos Peyrelongue - Bank of America

Benjamin Theurer - Barclays Capital

Nikolaj Lippmann - Morgan Stanley

Gordon Lee - BTG Pactual

Anne Milne - Bank of America

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the CEMEX Fourth Quarter 2022 Conference Call and Webcast. My name is Daisy, and I'll be your operator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]

And now, I will turn the conference over to Lucy Rodriguez, Chief Communications Officer. Please proceed.

Louisa Rodriguez

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for our fourth quarter 2022 conference call and webcast. We hope this call finds you in good health, and let us take this opportunity to give you our best wishes for 2023. I'm joined today by Fernando Gonzalez, our CEO; and Maher Al-Haffar, our CFO. As always, we will spend a few minutes reviewing the business, and then we will be happy to take your questions.

And now I will hand it over to Fernando.

Fernando Gonzalez

Thanks, Lucy, and good day to everyone. 2022 was a year of unexpected challenges for many businesses, as inflation spiked to 40-year highs. I'm pleased with how we responded and expect to continue to see the benefits of our strategy in 2023.

Now let's move to the fourth quarter. Our top line growth grew double-digit driven by strong pricing performance. EBITDA was higher in three of our four regions. In fact, the U.S. reported record fourth quarter results. As you know, our top priority has been to recover 2021 margins. Importantly, after several quarters in which we have been able to offset inflation in dollar terms, I'm seeing growing evidence that actual margin recovery is underway.

We continue to roll out our growth investment strategy with the recent announcement of the acquisition of Atlantic Minerals, which will increase our U.S. aggregate reserves by approximately 20%. The growth strategy has proven to be quite accretive with an approximately $100 million contribution to EBITDA in 2022. We continue our work on rebalancing the portfolio with divestments of more than $600 million during the year. Achieving an investment-grade rating remains a top priority. During the quarter, Standard & Poor's upgraded our rating to BB+, one notch away from investment-grade.