Cartavio S.A.A

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What it is

Cartavio is a Peru-based agro-industrial company whose core business is growing and refining sugarcane and selling domestic and industrial sugars — white, golden, and refined — under the Cartavio brand, alongside ethanol, industrial alcohol, molasses, and bagasse. Sugar alone accounts for roughly 70% of total sales.

The company’s sugarcane plantations cover 7,932 cultivable hectares in the La Libertad region. It has been listed on the Lima Stock Exchange since 1997, and sends about 40% of its exports to the Netherlands, followed by Colombia and the United States.

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Who owns it

Cartavio is a subsidiary of Corporación Azucarera del Perú S.A. (COAZUCAR), which in turn belongs to Grupo Gloria — Peru’s largest family conglomerate, controlled by the Rodríguez Rodríguez brothers. Cartavio joined Grupo Gloria on 3 May 2007, when COAZUCAR acquired 52% of its shares.

As of 31 December 2011, Corporación Azucarera del Perú held 87.17% of Cartavio’s capital — the free float available to outside investors has therefore been narrow for many years. The current precise ownership split is not disclosed in publicly available filings reviewed for this profile.

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Who runs it

John Anthony Carty Chirinos serves as General Manager (CEO) of Cartavio; he also holds the same role simultaneously across COAZUCAR, Casa Grande, Sintuco, and several other Gloria agro-industrial units, and is Vice-President of the Agroindustrial Unit of Grupo Gloria.

The names of the CFO and the Board Chair are not disclosed in available sources reviewed for this profile.

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The money, in plain words

In the full year 2024, Cartavio brought in PEN 535.1M (US$156.5M) in sales — up 5.4% on 2023 — but its earnings fell 13.7% to PEN 91.9M (US$26.9M). It keeps about 17 cents of profit from every sol of sales — a net profit margin of 17.2% (our calculation) — which is solid for a commodity agro-processor.

For every sol shareholders have put in, it earns roughly 17 back each year — a return on equity of about 17.2% (our calculation), respectable in an industry exposed to weather and commodity prices. At today’s price, investors pay about 10 times annual earnings — a price-to-earnings ratio of ~10.1× (our calculation) — and collect a dividend yield of roughly 11.5%, making it primarily an income stock.

The company carries net debt of about PEN 169.6M (US$49.6M; our calculation), with financial obligations of PEN 214.6 (US$63)M set against cash of PEN 45.1 (US$13)M — moderate leverage given PEN 534 (US$156)M in owner’s equity.

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What it is doing now

In 2024, new planting fell 45% — only 578 hectares were sown, against 890 in 2023 — because of a water deficit in the Chicama River that serves the plantation. That drought constraint is the key operating story for the year, threatening future cane supply.

The audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 were authorised by management and the Board on 20 February 2025 and filed with the BVL, making them the freshest primary data available.

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What to watch

• Water supply — the Chicama River deficit cut new planting nearly in half in 2024; any repeat will shrink next season’s cane harvest and put revenue under pressure.
• Sugar prices — Cartavio’s earnings are directly exposed to global sugar and ethanol quotations; a soft commodity cycle hits margins fast in a business with high fixed field costs.
• Free-float liquidity — with COAZUCAR holding a commanding stake, trading in CARTAVC1 is thin; the ~11.5% dividend yield partly compensates minority holders for that illiquidity.
• Grupo Gloria governance — any restructuring at the parent level could affect COAZUCAR’s stake or trigger related-party transactions that minority shareholders cannot easily block.

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This is news, not investment advice.