Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina S.A. (NYSE: LOMA) reported net profit of Ps. 7,043 million for the second quarter of 2026, against Ps. 514 million a year earlier. The increase came almost entirely from financial lines. Operating measures at Argentina’s largest cement producer went the other way.
The quarter
Net revenue rose 2.1% to Ps. 238,053 million from Ps. 233,056 million, driven by a 2.2% increase in the cement, masonry cement and lime segment. Gross profit fell 3.9% to Ps. 45,663 million, and the gross margin narrowed by 121 basis points to 19.2%. Selling and administrative expenses rose 15.7% to Ps. 28,858 million on higher salary costs, taking them to 12.1% of net sales, 142 basis points more than a year earlier.
Adjusted EBITDA slipped 2.5% to Ps. 48,175 million from Ps. 49,420 million, and the margin fell 97 basis points to 20.2% from 21.2%. Sequentially the margin dropped about 466 basis points from 24.9% in the first quarter. Earnings per common share were Ps. 12.7982 and earnings per ADR Ps. 63.9908, against Ps. 0.9094 and Ps. 4.5469 in the same quarter of 2025, on an average 583 million shares outstanding.
Sergio Faifman, the chief executive, said industry volumes had not yet regained the momentum the company expected, attributing the quarter’s performance mainly to a weak April affected by heavy rains, with May and June closer to year earlier levels.
Volumes and the demand picture
Cement, masonry and lime volumes fell 1.4% year on year to 1.19 million tons. Within that, bulk dispatches held up on demand from concrete producers, industrial customers and construction companies working on private and public projects, while bagged cement, which serves retail buyers doing self construction and refurbishment, stayed soft.
Concrete volumes fell 18.6% to 0.11 million cubic metres, which the company links to fewer special projects and weaker public works demand, partly offset by dispatches in Rosario supported by public infrastructure. Concrete revenue fell 11.2% as pricing recovered part of the volume loss. Aggregates volumes fell 12.2% and revenue 10.3%, on the same dynamics.
The railroad segment was the volume exception, up 10.1% to 1.01 million tons on grains, frac sand and cement, helped by the resumption of operations after the storm that disrupted the rail network at Bahia Blanca in March 2025. Railroad revenue rose 8.6%, less than volumes, because pricing did not contribute.
Costs, debt and two reporting bases
Cost of sales rose 3.7% to Ps. 192,390 million. In cement, unit costs rose 5.4% against a 3.6% increase in average pricing, compressing the per ton margin. The company attributes the increase to higher depreciation following completion of a 25-kilogram bagging project after June 2025, packaging costs tied to that project, maintenance and freight passing through higher fuel prices. Most kilns were shut in May as planned, to avoid running through the winter months and the higher energy costs that come with them.
Segment margins diverged. Cement, masonry and lime contracted 81 basis points to 23.9%. Concrete improved 867 basis points but stayed negative at -4.3%, against -13.0% a year earlier. Aggregates improved 877 basis points to -18.6% from -27.3%. Railroad fell to -5.2% from a positive 9.8% on higher fuel and labour costs.
Total debt stood at Ps. 302,505 million at June 30, 2026, of which Ps. 46,592 million was short term and Ps. 255,914 million long term. Cash, cash equivalents and investments were Ps. 28,855 million, leaving net debt of Ps. 273,650 million and a ratio of 1.30x last twelve months adjusted EBITDA, against 1.47x at the end of 2025. Of total debt, 87%, or Ps. 263,586 million, was denominated in United States dollars and 13%, Ps. 38,919 million, in pesos, and 87% carried a fixed rate.
Loma Negra presents two versions of its headline figures. Most of the release applies IAS 29, the standard for reporting in a hyperinflationary economy. Two tables are given in pesos and dollars without that adjustment. On the unadjusted basis, second quarter net revenue was Ps. 233,660 million, up 36.0%, adjusted EBITDA was Ps. 54,115 million, up 38.0%, and net profit was Ps. 21,468 million, up 178.5%. In dollars the same quarter shows revenue of US$ 166 million and adjusted EBITDA of US$ 38 million, up 12.5%.
Analysis: the profit sits below the operating line
The 1269.7% increase in net profit is arithmetic on a very small base and does not describe the operating quarter. Profit before taxes was Ps. 10,654 million against a Ps. 646 million loss a year earlier, and the swing is explained by finance costs, not by trading. Total net financial cost fell to Ps. 5,626 million from Ps. 22,291 million, driven by a smaller exchange rate loss of Ps. 18,634 million against Ps. 32,030 million on the company’s dollar liabilities. The peso kept depreciating through the quarter, but more slowly than in the comparable period of 2025.
That is the single most important thing in these numbers. With 87% of debt in dollars, Loma Negra’s reported profit is heavily geared to the pace of currency depreciation, and this quarter it benefited from that pace slowing rather than from anything the plants did. Gross profit, adjusted EBITDA and the EBITDA margin all fell. Strip the currency effect and the operating picture is a business holding revenue roughly flat in constant pesos while unit costs run ahead of prices.
The release carries two presentations, both prepared by the company. Under IAS 29 revenue grew 2.1% and adjusted EBITDA fell 2.5%. Without IAS 29 the same quarter shows revenue up 36.0% and adjusted EBITDA up 38.0%. Neither is wrong. The first restates the prior year into current purchasing power and the second does not, so the gap between them is a measure of inflation over the period rather than of performance. A reader comparing Loma Negra with a peer, or with its own guidance, has to state which basis is being used, and the dollar table is the only one that is directly comparable across time without that caveat.
The volume data is where the operating question actually sits. Cement volumes fell 1.4% while cement revenue rose 2.2%, which means price did the work. Average cement pricing rose 3.6% against a 5.4% rise in unit costs, so the pricing lever was not enough to hold the per ton margin. The three segments tied to public works and construction companies, concrete, aggregates and to a degree bagged cement, all contracted, while bulk cement and railroad grew. That split points to industrial and private activity holding up better than public infrastructure and household self construction.
Two items are worth following in the next release. The first is whether kiln scheduling reverses in the third quarter, since most kilns were shut in May by design and that decision moves both cost and volume between quarters. The second is the debt maturity profile. Short term borrowings fell to Ps. 46,592 million at June 30, 2026 from Ps. 361,531 million a year earlier while long term debt rose to Ps. 255,914 million from Ps. 1,826 million, a refinancing that has already happened and whose cost will show up in the financial expense line rather than in EBITDA. Loma Negra has been in the Argentine cement business since 1926, and the operating cycle it is describing here is a demand recovery that has not yet arrived.
