Holcim (Costa Rica) S.A.

What it is

Holcim (Costa Rica) S.A. produces and sells cement, concrete and aggregates, and also extracts the quarried minerals that go into making those materials. The group runs four business lines: Cement, Ready-Mix Concrete, Aggregates, and Solutions & Products.

The legal company was incorporated under the laws of Costa Rica on 25 May 1960, and has operated in the country without interruption since 10 August 1964. From 2022, the group began building concrete structures and manufacturing heavy precast elements, broadening well beyond its original single-product cement identity.

Who owns it

At 31 December 2024, 66.4% of the company was held by Holcim Auslandbeteiligungs GmbH, a German-registered entity, whose ultimate controlling parent is Holcim Ltd, a Swiss multinational. Holcim trades its shares on the Bolsa Nacional de Valores (BNV), leaving a free float of roughly 33.6% in the hands of public investors (our calculation).

No individual employee or board member holds 10% or more of the share capital. The local minority is therefore spread across many small shareholders — an unusual feature for a Central American industrial company.

Who runs it

In May 2024, Holcim Costa Rica named Natalia Soler as its new CEO; she brings deep commercial experience from Holcim Argentina. The CFO, named Dolly, is a Colombian-national certified accountant with an MBA from EAFIT who joined the LafargeHolcim group in 2007 and has since held financial leadership roles in Colombia and Mexico before arriving in Costa Rica.

The board is chaired by an executive with engineering and MBA credentials from Carnegie Mellon who has served as CFO across several Holcim regions and as president of Holcim’s Chilean subsidiary Polpaico; he brings more than 20 years of Holcim group experience to that chair. Independent director Mauricio Jenkins holds a PhD in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University and has been an associate professor at INCAE Business School in finance and international business.

The money, in plain words

Sales in 2024 were ₡124.8 billion (~$276.9 million) — down 1.2% from 2023’s ₡126.4 billion (~$280.4 million) as Costa Rica’s construction sector grew slowly for most of the year (our calculation). Construction activity showed little momentum through the first three quarters of 2024, with growth below 3%, though the fourth quarter recovered to 8.6%.

The company kept ₡13.7 of every ₡100 in sales as net profit — a net profit margin of 13.7%, solid for a building-materials business (our calculation). Earnings per share rose from ₡1.79 to ₡1.99, an 11.2% gain (our calculation), even as total revenue slipped, reflecting tight cost management.

At a share price of ₡14.00, investors are paying about 7× one year’s earnings — a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.0× — modest by regional standards (our calculation).

What it is doing now

On 1 May 2024, Holcim Costa Rica completed the legal absorption of its waste-management subsidiary Geocycle SAG S.A., folding the unit into the parent company while retaining full control of its operations. A new precast concrete plant was incorporated in November 2024 in Cartago, with annual capacity of 72,000 cubic metres, extending the group’s reach into heavy construction components.

During 2024, the company cut its CO₂ emissions 19% against a 2018 baseline, and valorised more than 72,000 tonnes of municipal and industrial waste as alternative fuel or energy in cement production. It also invested more than $15 million to expand its Geocycle co-processing platform at the Agua Caliente de Cartago plant.

What to watch

• Revenue recovery: Sales dipped 1.2% in 2024; whether the Q4 construction rebound carries into 2025 is the single biggest number to track.
• Free-float liquidity: With only ~33.6% of shares publicly traded on a small exchange, the stock can be illiquid — wide bid-ask spreads are common and price discovery is slow.
• Parent strategy: Holcim Auslandbeteiligungs GmbH lifted its stake slightly, from 66.4% at end-2024 to 66.67% by September 2025, suggesting the Swiss parent is gradually consolidating; a full buyout of the minority is a latent possibility.
• Carbon transition costs: Holcim Costa Rica is the first construction-materials company in the country to commit to the UN Global Compact’s “Business Ambition for 1.5°C” pledge, with 2030 and 2050 decarbonisation targets that will require ongoing capital spending.
• New leadership: CEO Natalia Soler took the helm only in May 2024; her first full fiscal year’s results — due in March 2026 — will be the first clean read on her strategic direction.

This is news, not investment advice.