Dear colleagues.  I hope you and your families are well and healthy. As we’ve recently seen, the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, which means that for the time being we will have to coexist with the virus.After an initial containment, in many places worldwide the lockdowns and other restrictions were relaxed. This has led to a significant second wave of cases, indicating that the current situation will prevail, most likely, until an effective vaccine is rolled out. So, it is critical that we continue to strictly follow our Behaviours that Save Lives, while also observing all the basic guidelines, including physical distancing, wearing face masks, and washing our hands frequently.

Amid this extremely challenging environment, today I’m very pleased to share with you that we are reporting better than expected results for the third quarter of the year. You can consult our 3Q presentation in this link: https://www.cemex.com/investors/reports. These good results are due to many factors, including our competitive geographic diversification, our leading digital platforms, and our disciplined approach to lowering costs. But, most of all, they reflect your hard work, your tireless dedication to our customers, and your firm commitment to CEMEX.

I want to thank you all for stepping up at this challenging moment and doing your very best to show that CEMEX is a great company that actually delivers value. I also want to let you know that, in appreciation of your support, in November we will be giving back the voluntary pay deferrals and compensation deductions that most of you took back in May, June and July. A few months ago, nobody could anticipate how deep the impact of this pandemic was going to be. Thankfully, we are now in a much better position than it could have been expected. Please rest assured that your voluntary contributions were instrumental in strengthening our cash position.

I really appreciate the sacrifices you have endured throughout this crisis; this is certainly a year marked by illness and loss that  nobody will forget, but it also will be remembered for your generosity and continued commitment to building a future where we all can thrive.

This doesn’t mean we are out of the woods yet. The pandemic-related contingency is still very serious, but, perhaps even more importantly, it is also quickly leading in practice to a “new normal” way of doing business. This includes, of course, maintaining safe operations at all our facilities, serving our customers through CEMEX Go, and constantly communicating what we are doing to all our stakeholders, so that we can continue to earn their trust every single day.

But, above all, the new normal means seeing our entire company through much lower cost-base lenses. We must realise there are new market conditions, and we must evolve accordingly, by adopting different attitudes about how we conduct our business. In short, the main word is austerity. It means, in fact, doing even more with less. We are currently starting our budgeting process for next year, by evaluating every expense we have to see if each one is truly essential for running our business successfully.

We are doing it, because we intend to effectively build a more resilient, more competitive, and more successful CEMEX – one that we are all proud of.

Thanks again and keep up the good work!

Best regards, Fernando