- Net profit beat the $1.66 billion LSEG analyst estimate
- Second-quarter copper output fell 3.7%, but prices rose 30.5%
- Grupo Mexico raised $1.25 billion in bonds for Peru's Tia Maria project
MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) - Mining and transportation conglomerate Grupo Mexico said on Tuesday its second-quarter net profit rose nearly 79% from the same period a year earlier, bolstered by higher copper prices and well ahead of analysts' forecasts.
Net profit for the group, a leading global producer of the red metal and operator of infrastructure and transportation businesses, came in at $2.20 billion from revenues that climbed 35% to $5.71 billion.
The net profit surpassed the $1.66 billion estimate of analysts polled by LSEG, while revenues landed just above the $5.65 billion forecast.
For its growth projects, Grupo Mexico highlighted that it is looking at acquiring a stake in a rail asset in Brazil, and in Argentina it is awaiting the outcome of a tender process for freight rail assets.
It would be open to the Argentina acquisition as long as it could have full control of both infrastructure and operations, Grupo Mexico said.
The company also said it raised $1.25 billion through a 10-year senior unsecured bond issue last month, and plans to use the funds for the Tia Maria copper project in Peru.
The project was 42% complete by the end of the second quarter, with a target to start operating in the second half of the year.
COPPER FOCUS
Grupo Mexico, controlled by billionaire German Larrea, ranks among the world's largest producers by volume of copper, a metal in high demand globally to meet growing needs of myriad industrial and electrical applications.
The firm produced 257,537 metric tons of copper in the second quarter, down 3.7% from the same period in 2025, due to lower output in Peru and its U.S. Asarco unit, partly offset by an increase at its Mexican operations.
At the same time, copper prices jumped 30.5% from a year earlier to $6.16 per pound.
Sales in the key mining division rose 41.3% from a year earlier.
Grupo Mexico maintained its 2026 guidance to produce 1.034 million tons of copper.
Reporting by Iñigo Alexander and Daina Beth Solomon
Source: Reuters