Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

When you look at Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA), Argentina's leading cement producer, are you focused on the political headwinds or the underlying demand that keeps this infrastructure giant moving?

The Q3 2025 results certainly show the market stress, with the company reporting a net loss of Ps. 8,587 million-a sharp reversal from the prior year's profit-on net sales revenue of US$154 million, which was a 12.1% drop year-over-year. But while the consolidated Adjusted EBITDA fell 35.1% to US$36 million, their successful US$113 million bond issuance shows management is defintely securing liquidity to weather the storm.

So, how exactly does this century-old company operate and make money in such a volatile economy, and why does its history, ownership, and mission still matter for your investment thesis today?

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA) History

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima has been the backbone of Argentina's construction sector for nearly a century, starting from a foundational discovery of raw materials.

Year established

The company was established in 1926.

Original location

Loma Negra was founded in Olavarría, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The location was chosen after the founder, Alfredo Fortabat, discovered large limestone deposits at his nearby San Jacinto Estancia.

Founding team members

The founder was the Argentine businessman, Alfredo Fortabat. Following his death in 1976, his wife, María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, became the majority stakeholder and President, guiding its growth for decades.

Initial capital/funding

The precise initial capital or funding amount used for the company's establishment in 1926 is not publicly available. What we do know is that the company's 2017 Initial Public Offering (IPO) raised gross proceeds of over US$1.096 billion from the global offering, a massive injection of capital decades later.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Loma Negra's trajectory shows a clear pattern of vertical integration and strategic acquisitions, moving from a single plant to a national leader.

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's most significant shifts involved securing its supply chain, adapting to privatization, and navigating the volatile Argentine economy, which continues into 2025.

The decision to vertically integrate logistics was defintely a game-changer. By acquiring the Ferrosur Roca railway line in 1992, Loma Negra secured a competitive edge in transporting its bulk products, a major cost component in the cement industry. That's a classic move to control your own destiny.

The 2005 acquisition by InterCement, a subsidiary of the Brazilian conglomerate Mover Participações, provided the company with global scale and capital, but still allowed it to maintain its strong local identity.

More recently, the company's financial performance in 2025 highlights the current challenges and opportunities in Argentina:

• In the first quarter of 2025 (1Q25), Net Sales Revenues stood at US$149 million, with a Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA of US$40 million.
• By the third quarter of 2025 (3Q25), Net Sales Revenues were US$154 million, but the company reported a net loss of Ps. 8,587 million, reflecting a challenging economic environment and lower operating results.
• To manage its debt structure, Loma Negra issued a new Class 5 Corporate Bond in July 2025 for US$113 million to refinance upcoming maturities.

This shows a trend-aware realism: they are actively managing debt (Net Debt was US$206 million as of September 30, 2025) while navigating a market where the construction sector is volatile. For more on their strategic direction, you should look at their Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA).

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA) Ownership Structure

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima operates with a clear majority owner, but its public listing means a significant portion of the company is traded on the open market, giving institutional and individual investors a real stake in its performance.

This structure means strategic control rests with the parent company, yet the need to satisfy public shareholders keeps management focused on market performance and governance transparency. It's a dual-pressure system.

Given Company's Current Status

Loma Negra is a Publicly Held company, which is an important distinction for investors like you. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker LOMA and on the Bolsas y Mercados Argentinos (BYMA) in Buenos Aires. This dual listing provides liquidity and subjects the company to rigorous reporting standards from both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Argentine regulators.

As of November 2025, the company's market capitalization is approximately US$1.3 billion, reflecting its position as Argentina's leading cement producer. Its capital stock is ARS 58,348,315.10, divided into 583,483,151 ordinary shares, each with a par value of ARS 0.10. If you want to dig deeper into the company's long-term direction, you should review its Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA).

Given Company's Ownership Breakdown

The company's decision-making is heavily influenced by its primary shareholder, InterCement Trading e Inversiones S.A., which is a subsidiary of the Brazilian conglomerate Mover Participações. This controlling stake is the single most important factor in understanding the company's long-term strategy and capital allocation. The remaining portion is the public float, which is split among large funds and everyday investors.

Given Company's Leadership

The leadership team blends long-term company veterans with executives from the controlling shareholder, ensuring both operational continuity and alignment with the parent company's global strategy. This dual focus is defintely key to navigating the Argentine market's volatility.

• President of the Board of Directors: Paulo Diniz was appointed in April 2023. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of the controlling shareholder, InterCement Participações, which links the board directly to the parent company.
• Chief Executive Officer (CEO) / Vice-President of the Board: Sergio Damián Faifman has served in this role since November 2016, bringing over two decades of experience within the company, having started in 1994.
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO): Marcos Isabelino Gradin has been the CFO since March 2016, managing the financial strategy and investor relations.

The CEO's long tenure, combined with the Board President's direct link to the majority owner, means the company is steered by a mix of deep local knowledge and international corporate oversight. Here's the quick math: with the CEO having been at the company for over 30 years, his operational perspective carries significant weight.

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA) Mission and Values

Loma Negra's core purpose extends beyond being Argentina's cement market leader, focusing instead on driving growth for all stakeholders through a clear commitment to sustainability and operational excellence. This cultural DNA is built on five core values that translate directly into tangible investments, like the $70 million dedicated to worker safety in 2025.

Honestly, a company's mission is just words until you see the money behind it. Loma Negra's trailing 12-month revenue, as of mid-2025, was around $717 million, and a portion of that is clearly earmarked for non-financial goals. It's a trend-aware realist's approach to long-term value creation.

Loma Negra's Core Purpose

The company's cultural framework centers on a purpose that guides all business decisions, translating their role in construction into a broader social impact. This is their north star, and it defintely influences capital allocation.

Official mission statement

The mission is a clear, multi-stakeholder directive: to grow and develop alongside everyone involved in the business ecosystem, powered by a focus on improvement and responsible operations.

• Grow and develop with customers, associates, suppliers, shareholders, and communities.
• Drive this development through innovation and sustainability.
• Maintain operating excellence across all business units.

Vision statement

Loma Negra's vision is about market leadership, but it is defined by the quality of service and partnership they offer, not just volume. They aim to be the indispensable partner in the cement industry.

• Stand out with customers based on partnership and service level.
• Lead the cement industry markets where the company operates.

Loma Negra slogan/tagline

While not a traditional advertising slogan, the company's stated purpose serves as its guiding tagline, showing its commitment to a triple-bottom-line approach (people, planet, and profit). Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA).

• We transform people's lives by fostering sustainable growth.

Here's the quick math on their values: In 2025, Loma Negra committed an investment of $70 million to update all seven of its industrial plants for the new 25-kilogram cement bag standard, which is primarily a worker safety initiative to reduce physical strain and risk in the construction supply chain. Plus, their dedication to the environment is evidenced by a $78.4 million investment in green cement technology, a necessary step for a materials company.

Their five core values-Respect for people and the environment, Transparency, Quality and innovation, Responsible performance, and Focused on Results-are the operating principles that make these investments happen.

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA) How It Works

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima operates as the leading, vertically integrated cement producer in Argentina, essentially serving as the bedrock for the nation's construction and infrastructure development. The company makes money by mining its own raw materials, processing them into high-value construction products like cement and concrete, and then using its proprietary rail network to distribute them across the country to builders and retailers.

Given Company's Product/Service Portfolio

Given Company's Operational Framework

The company's operational framework is built on a deep, vertical integration model, which is defintely the core driver of its cost efficiency and supply reliability in a volatile Argentine economy. This means Loma Negra controls the entire value chain, from quarrying limestone to delivering the final product.

• Raw Material Control: Own and operate vast, strategically located limestone reserves, which insulates production from external raw material price swings and ensures long-term supply.
• Integrated Production & Logistics: Use clinker and cement plants, like the massive L'Amalí facility, and connect them directly to the proprietary Ferrosur Roca rail network. This keeps transportation costs lower than competitors relying solely on trucking.
• Cost Discipline and Efficiency: Management has focused hard on operational agility. In 2Q25, the Cement segment costs were reduced by 0.8%, which helped mitigate the revenue decline caused by pricing pressures.
• Green Investment: Committed to sustainability, the company sources 61% of its energy from renewables, which both cuts energy costs and aligns the business with global environmental standards.

Here's the quick math on their market position: Cement, masonry cement, and lime sales volumes rose 11.1% in 2Q25 to 1.21 million tons, showing that demand is robust, even if pricing is tough right now. You can see more on the financial side in Breaking Down Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Given Company's Strategic Advantages

Loma Negra's market success comes down to three things: its sheer scale, its dominant brand, and its strategic alignment with national growth.

• Market Dominance: The company is the clear market leader in Argentina. Management is targeting a 2025 market share of 47.3% in residential construction, 44.6% in commercial, and 40.9% in infrastructure, which is a significant competitive moat.
• Unmatched Brand Equity: The Loma Negra brand is essentially synonymous with cement in Argentina, especially in the bagged cement market, which represented about 60% of sales in 2022 and remains a key segment.
• Strategic Capital Investment: A recent US$70 million investment in a new 25-kilogram cement bag product is a smart move. It's designed to improve worker safety and reduce waste, positioning the company to capture a larger share of the small-scale residential and retail market.
• Logistical Edge: Owning the rail network provides a cost and efficiency advantage that rivals cannot easily replicate, especially for moving high-volume, low-margin products over long distances. That integrated model is a huge structural advantage.

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA) How It Makes Money

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima primarily makes money by manufacturing and selling cement, masonry cement, and lime, which are the essential building blocks for construction projects across Argentina. This core product line is complemented by revenue from its vertically integrated businesses: ready-mix concrete, aggregates (crushed stone and sand), and its own rail services for logistics and transportation.

In short, the company's financial engine is a dominant market share in the Argentine cement industry, supported by a cost-efficient, integrated supply chain that controls production from quarry to delivery.

Loma Negra's Revenue Breakdown

Looking at the third quarter of 2025 (3Q25) results, the company's total Net Sales Revenues stood at Ps. 209,272 million (US$ 154 million). The revenue streams show a clear reliance on the core product, Cement, but also highlight the importance of the construction-related segments, even as the overall top line declined by 12.1% year-over-year (YoY).

Here's the quick math: Cement, masonry cement, and lime account for nearly nine out of every ten dollars of revenue, making it the defintely critical segment. While the Concrete and Aggregates segments saw strong volume growth-up 37.8% and 26.3%, respectively-softer pricing dynamics in a competitive market kept their revenue contribution flat in 3Q25. The Railroad segment's revenue dropped by 14.9%, partly due to a disrupted railway line impacting longer-haul traffic.

Business Economics

Loma Negra operates in a highly cyclical, capital-intensive industry in a volatile macroeconomic environment (Argentina). The company's key economic advantage is its vertical integration, which helps manage costs and logistics better than competitors. This is a business where scale matters, and controlling the supply chain from raw materials (quarrying) to final delivery (railroad) is the core economic moat (a sustainable competitive advantage).

• Pricing Strategy: Management is focused on raising prices above inflation to recover dollar-based pricing power, especially as the foreign exchange (FX) market stabilizes post-election. This is a critical near-term action to restore margins.
• Cost Control: Despite a challenging quarter, the company demonstrated effective cost management, with the unit cost per ton (excluding depreciation) decreasing by approximately 6.5%. This cost discipline partially offset the pressure from weaker pricing.
• Demand Drivers: The business is heavily tied to Argentine construction activity. While the third quarter saw a slowdown due to political uncertainty, the underlying demand drivers-private developments in logistics and residential construction, plus public infrastructure projects-are expected to unlock post-election.
• Capital Allocation: The focus for 2025 is on financial stabilization and refinancing. For example, a new Class 5 Corporate Bond for US$113 million was issued in July 2025 to manage upcoming debt maturities. No dividends are planned for 2025, with a potential resumption in 2026.

Loma Negra's Financial Performance

The company's financial health as of November 2025 shows a business under pressure from a challenging operating environment, but with a manageable leverage profile.

• Net Loss: For 3Q25, Loma Negra reported a Net Loss of Ps. 8,587 million. This contrasts sharply with a net profit in the same period last year and was mainly driven by a higher net financial loss and a lower operating result.
• EBITDA and Margin: Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA for 3Q25 was US$ 36 million, a 35.1% drop in dollar terms from 3Q24. The Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA Margin contracted to 20.8%, down 315 basis points YoY. This margin contraction is the clearest indicator of the pricing and volume pressures the company is facing.
• Leverage: Net Debt stood at US$ 206 million as of September 30, 2025. The Net Debt/LTM Adjusted EBITDA ratio rose to 1.49x, up from 0.89x at the end of FY24. What this estimate hides is the impact of a weaker EBITDA on the ratio, but a 1.49x ratio is still considered a comfortable leverage profile for a capital-intensive company.

If you want to understand the long-term strategic direction that guides these financial decisions, you should review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA).

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA) Market Position & Future Outlook

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima is the undisputed market leader in Argentina's cement sector, but its near-term outlook is a classic tug-of-war between strong underlying infrastructure demand and severe macroeconomic volatility.

The company's strategic advantage lies in its vertical integration and recent alignment with major local infrastructure capital, positioning it to capture the upside of Argentina's expected long-term economic recovery, despite a Q3 2025 net loss of Ps. 8,587 million due to pricing pressures. You can dive deeper into the financial mechanics here: Breaking Down Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (LOMA) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Competitive Landscape

The Argentine cement market is highly concentrated, with three players controlling the vast majority of dispatches. Loma Negra's dominance is underpinned by its logistics control and scale, which competitors struggle to match due to high local transport costs.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company is playing a long game, making strategic investments now to capitalize on a future infrastructure boom, but it must first navigate the immediate risks of a tight fiscal policy environment.

Industry Position

Loma Negra is the clear market leader, holding a dominant position that is structurally protected by its logistics network and production capacity across Argentina. This is a scale game, and they win on scale.

• Dominance in Cement: Holds an estimated 44% of the total cement market, a share maintained despite a challenging Q3 2025 where cement revenue declined by 13.2% YoY.
• Vertical Integration Edge: Ownership of the Ferrosur Roca freight rail network is a critical competitive moat (barrier to entry), providing unparalleled cost control over raw material and finished product transport across vast distances.
• Strategic Focus: The company is deliberately shifting its sales mix toward higher-margin, retail-driven bagged cement, evidenced by the $70 million investment in a new 25-kilogram bag format to capture the small-scale construction market.
• Leverage Profile: Despite the net loss, the company maintains a manageable leverage profile with a Net Debt to LTM Adjusted EBITDA ratio of 1.49x as of Q3 2025.

The company's ability to withstand margin pressure while continuing strategic capital expenditure (CapEx) shows a confidence in the long-term recovery story, but investors need to monitor the pace of private sector construction growth to offset the public works slowdown.