Context: How Bolsa de Valores de Quito works, and what it makes issuers disclose · Ecuador on the LatAm Power Map
Cridesa is Ecuador’s only industrial-scale glass-container maker — the single factory that puts a bottle around every local beer, spirit, soft drink, and pharmaceutical product. Behind it stands O-I Glass, the world’s largest glass-bottle company, headquartered in the United States.
| Full name | Cristalería del Ecuador S.A. (Cridesa) |
|---|---|
| Ticker / exchange | CRIDESA — Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil (BVG) & Registro de Mercado de Valores de Quito |
| Headquarters | Km 22.5, Vía Perimetral, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador |
| Sector | Glass-container manufacturing (CIIU C2310) |
| Employees | 198 (2024) |
| Market value | Not disclosed in available sources (shares thinly traded; last published price $4.00, March 2019) |
| Yearly sales (revenue) | Not disclosed in available sources — EMIS reports net sales grew ~5.2% in the most recently published full year (FY2024 data cited) |
| Net profit | Not disclosed in available sources — EMIS reports net profit fell ~3.4% in the same period |
| Net margin | Not disclosed in available sources |
| Return on equity | Not disclosed in available sources |
| Price-to-earnings | Not disclosed in available sources |
| Dividend yield | Not disclosed in available sources (cash dividend of $10,021,744 / $0.4772 per share paid March 2019) |
| Website | o-i.com (O-I Glass global); o-icatalogo-la.com (Andean catalogue) |
What it is
Cridesa is an Ecuadorian company headquartered in Guayaquil, specialised in the production of different types of glass products. Its core business is the fabrication of glass containers — bottles for soft drinks, beers, food, spirits, and pharmaceutical products.
The company was incorporated on 23 July 1965, and its plant sits on the Vía Perimetral ring road outside Guayaquil — Ecuador’s industrial and port heartland. It currently employs 198 people (2024).
Who owns it
The controlling shareholder is not a family or a local group — it is a US multinational. Cridesa is an Ecuadorian corporation belonging to the Owens Illinois Inc. (O-I) group, which traces its lineage to the Owens Bottle-Machine Company formed in 1903 with the invention of the automatic bottle-making machine by Michael J.
Owens.
The 2019 audited financial statements — the most recent full filing publicly available on the Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil — state explicitly that OI Ecuador LLC, a US entity, holds 69% of Cridesa’s share capital, leaving 31% available to the Ecuadorian public market. O-I Glass, Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker OI.
The free-float ownership breakdown of the remaining 31% is not disclosed in available sources.
Who runs it
The names of Cridesa’s current CEO, CFO, and board chair are not disclosed in available public sources — EMIS lists executive titles (Executive President, two Presidents, two Managers) but locks all names behind a paid report. The company operates under the Owens-Illinois Andean regional structure, which also covers Peru and Colombia.
The money, in plain words
Precise revenue and net profit figures are not disclosed in any freely accessible source as of the date of this profile; the most recent audited accounts published on the BVG cover the year ended 31 December 2019. What the exchange data and EMIS directional indicators do show is that net sales revenue grew about 5.2% in the most recently reported full year, while net profit fell roughly 3.4% and total assets shrank about 8.4% — a pattern suggesting cost pressure is eating into margins even as the top line rises.
The last publicly confirmed cash return to shareholders was a dividend of $10,021,744 in total — $0.4772 per share — announced in March 2019 alongside a last traded share price of $4.00. Whether dividends have been paid since then is not disclosed in available public sources.
The most recent partial-period data shows net revenue growing 10.06% in the second quarter of 2025.
What it is doing now
Owens Illinois Andean, operating in Ecuador as O-I Cridesa, has partnered with recycling start-up ReciVeci to create the country’s first Glass Hub — a collection depot designed to close the logistics gap between bottle users and the Guayaquil factory. The Glass Hub model has already been replicated four times in Colombia and once in Peru; Ecuador is the latest addition.
Revenue growth accelerated to 10.06% in Q2 2025 while total assets grew 0.93% and the net margin expanded 6.74% — an encouraging combination after the profit squeeze visible in the 2024 full-year figures.
What to watch
- Disclosure gap. The most recent full audited accounts on the public exchange file date from 2019. Until Cridesa publishes more current financials in an accessible format, investors are navigating largely blind.
- Parent trajectory. O-I Glass (NYSE: OI) has faced significant pressure globally from lighter-weight plastic and aluminium packaging; any strategic shift — including asset disposals — by the parent would flow directly to Cridesa’s future.
- Recycled-glass drive. The Glass Hub initiative links Cridesa’s input cost directly to the domestic recycling rate. If it scales, it reduces reliance on imported raw materials and cuts energy consumption — a genuine competitive hedge.
- Ecuador macro risk. Ecuador is dollarised, which removes currency risk, but the economy remains vulnerable to oil prices and political instability; any sharp contraction in domestic demand hits Cridesa’s captive customer base — the brewing, spirits, and food industries.
- Thin float. With OI Ecuador LLC holding 69% and shares rarely trading, price discovery is weak. Any move by O-I Glass to increase or decrease its stake would be the single biggest catalyst this stock could face.
Sources
- Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil — Cridesa Audited Financial Statements 2019 (PDF) — primary source for ownership structure, incorporation date, HQ address, activity description, and 69% OI Ecuador LLC stake.
- Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil — Cridesa Issuer Page (C.13) — exchange listing, sector classification, address.
- BVG Noticias — Cridesa dividend and share price notice, March 2019 — last traded price $4.00, total dividend $10,021,744, per-share $0.4772.
- EMIS — Cridesa Company Profile (English) — directional financial growth rates for most recent reported period; employee count 198 (2024).
- ReciVeci — Glass Hub inauguration, Ecuador’s first (November 2023) — O-I Cridesa Glass Hub initiative.
- Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil — academic thesis on Cridesa (2015) — corporate history, O-I group lineage.
- Market data: EODHD.
This is news, not investment advice.
Read More from The Rio Times