Good morning. Welcome to GCC's Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Results Conference Call. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this call is being recorded and that all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Please also note that a slide presentation accompanies today's webcast. The link is available on the company's IR website at gcc.com. I would now like to turn the call over to Sahory Ogushi, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining. With me today are Enrique Escalante, our Chief Executive Officer, and Maik Strecker, Chief Financial Officer. The earnings release detailing this quarter's results was released yesterday after market close and is available on GCC's IR website. This conference call is also being broadcast live within the Investor Section at gcc.com, and both the webcast replay of the call and transcript will be available on the same site approximately one hour after the end of today's call. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that our remarks today will include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these results to differ materially are set forth in yesterday's press release and in our quarterly report filed with the Mexican Stock Exchange.
Any forward-looking statements that we make on this call are based on assumptions as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events. With that, let me now turn the call over to Enrique.
Thank you, Sahory. And good morning, everyone. GCC achieved record-breaking results in 2024, delivering the highest full-year revenue and EBITDA in our history. We also set a new benchmark with a record EBITDA margin that surpassed our ambitious 2025 target of 36%. These significant milestones were accomplished despite navigating challenging markets and a complex global environment. This year's success underscores the resiliency of our company. In the face of economic uncertainties and shifting market dynamics, our teams demonstrated remarkable performance, discipline, and agility. We responded swiftly to changes in the demand, leveraging our operational flexibility and execution speed to adapt and thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape. Now, let me share how our focus on our three pillars - people, planning, and profit - continues to shape our long-term vision.
Throughout the year, we remain focused on strengthening our operational foundation, driving sustainable growth, and building resilience through strategic initiatives aligned with our core pillars. Starting with people, we continue to place a strong emphasis on safety and talent development. In 2024, we made significant progress in implementing our safety strategy, including strengthening our safety leadership model and serious injury and fatality prevention system. These initiatives led to a 33% reduction in recordable and lost-time incidents and a 17% reduction in lost workdays compared to 2023. We remain committed to becoming a world-class safety company. We also enhanced employee development through the GCC Cement Training Institute, providing close to 13,000 hours of tailored training programs to more than 620 employees across all our cement plants. With 46 specialized courses, we supported skill building, enhanced operational efficiency, and strengthened employee retention.
During the fourth quarter, we conducted a thorough assessment of the specific training needs at each plant and developed comprehensive training plans for 2025, which are already being implemented. We're also proud to have been recognized once again as a Great Place to Work certified company in both countries where we operate, a testament to our dedication to fostering an exceptional and diverse workplace culture. Let me now turn to our planet pillar, where we accelerated our sustainability efforts and made significant progress in reducing our environmental footprint. In 2024, we achieved a reduction in Scope 1 CO2 emissions of 2.8% compared to 2023, and aligned with our 2030 Science Based Targets initiative roadmap. This accomplishment was driven by embracing cleaner fuel options and reducing our clinker factor.
Throughout the year, we leveraged our flexible fuel strategy to transition from coal to lower-carbon alternatives, such as natural gas and alternative fuels. This effort resulted in a year-over-year increase of around 2 percentage points in our alternative fuel substitution rate, reaching 9%. The Samalayuca plant led the way, achieving the most significant and consistent improvement among GCC plants, with an increase of 16 percentage points in its substitution rate. Similar efforts at our Rapid City plant further supported the expansion of our clean energy strategy. Additionally, during 2024, GCC continued investment in the second phase of our solar project in Montana. The project was completed this month and is expected to provide 22% of the plant's electricity needs, representing a significant step forward in our transition to renewable energy sources.
Our commitment to energy efficiency was recognized by EPA, with our Rapid City plant earning Energy Star certifications for another consecutive year. This milestone underscores our focus on maintaining high operational standards while lowering our environmental impact, reinforcing our dedication to sustainable practice. We remain steadfast in our commitment to achieving our 2030 emissions target and advancing our journey toward net-zero concrete emissions. As part of this effort, we have partnered with Chart Industries with their cryogenic carbon capture technology and a highly experienced regional EPC contractor to explore the deployment of a pilot cryogenic carbon capture system at the Odessa cement plant. We're planning to utilize the captured carbon in enhanced oil recovery operations in the Permian Basin.
The project is currently in the Front-End Engineering Design or FEED study phase, and as part of our scalable innovation strategy, we are evaluating how this technology can be expanded to a full-scale carbon capture unit. Turning to our profit pillar, we started the year on a strong note, delivering solid growth in the first quarter. However, as the year progressed, we encountered multiple challenges that impacted volume in both the U.S. and Mexico. In response, we focused on our commercial strategy, enhanced operational efficiencies, and leveraged our flexible network to mitigate this impact. For example, during the year, we identified deficiencies in our variable cost, streamlining processes across our operations to reduce fuel and energy consumption, which lowered overall production cost. These efforts allowed us to outperform market trends. According to the latest USGS forecast, U.S. cement consumption was expected to decline by 4.6% for the year.
GCC exceeded this by 2.4 percentage points. Similarly, the USGS Minerals Survey last report showed a 6% decrease in total cement shipments in the United States through September compared to 2023. Our network demonstrated once again resilience and outpaced the market, reflecting the effectiveness of our strategy. Now, let me provide an update on the markets where we operate, starting with our U.S. operations. The early part of the quarter benefited from strong demand in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Iowa, driven by robust activity in our ready-mix business, particularly from agriculture and renewable energy projects, which also bolstered our cement business. Cement volumes were further supported by the SunZia Wind and Transmission project in New Mexico and a wind farm project in West Texas. However, momentum slowed in November due to the return to more typical weather patterns compared to last year's unusually warm and dry winter.
Snowfall in some regions, combined with the broader uncertainty surrounding the U.S. presidential election, contributed to reduced activity across our market. As a result, fourth-quarter U.S. cement volumes were nearly flat, declining by 0.8%, while concrete volumes increased by 4.5%. Despite these challenges, our commercial strategy and pricing actions executed during the year helped offset volume decline, leading to a 4.1% increase in U.S. sales during the fourth quarter. Along these lines, we have informed customers of an $8 per short ton price increase for construction cement effective April 1st. In Mexico, the residential segment demonstrated steady demand, achieving 24% year-over-year growth during the fourth quarter. However, the industrial segment in the other quarters continued to face challenges due to energy infrastructure limitations and permitting delays, which were further compounded by uncertainty related to the U.S. election cycle. Additionally, cement volumes in the mining sector continued to decline.
After 16 years of supplying cement to the largest mine in our customer base, the mine reached the end of its life cycle in November. These factors contribute to a 9.5% decrease in cement volumes and a 10% drop in concrete volumes during the quarter, leading to a 13.9% decline in New Mexico sales. On a more positive note, Chihuahua is among the states expected to benefit from the federal government's plan to build one million homes. We're encouraged by the opportunities this initiative will generate for our Mexico operations and are well prepared to meet the increased demand while supporting the government's efforts to benefit local communities.
To conclude, while the fourth quarter presented significant challenges, our focus on cost control during the second half of the year, combined with the measures we implemented to address market dynamics, enabled us to deliver strong bottom-line results, including a 3.7% increase in EBITDA during the quarter and 6.2% growth for the full year 2024. As we continue driving growth and strengthening our market position, we are excited to announce the acquisition of three pure-play aggregate businesses in Texas, strategically expanding our footprint in the fast-growing Midland Odessa, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio markets. These acquisitions, valued at over $100 million, bring 4 million tons of annual production capacity and more than 50 years of proven high-quality reserves, significantly strengthening our ability to serve a diverse customer base across infrastructure, industrial, and commercial markets.
Texas remains one of the fastest-growing states in the U.S., with a population exceeding 30 million and projected to grow by 7% by 2030. The Dallas-Fort Worth region leads the nation in real estate investment and development, fueled by its robust economic growth in the expanding construction sector. Similarly, San Antonio remains a hub of residential and commercial construction activity, with robust road prospects. Midland, situated in the Permian Basin, plays a critical role in energy production, driving infrastructure demand and construction activity. Our aggregate reserves are strategically positioned to supply well-pad base materials for oil and gas operations, as well as residential, commercial, and infrastructure projects. These markets represent dynamic opportunities for growth, bolstered by rising construction activity, population expansion, and industrial development. With these acquisitions, we are well positioned to meet the increased demand for construction materials.
Looking ahead, we will continue to pursue opportunities to grow GCC's aggregate businesses within our existing footprint and in adjacent markets, aligned with our commitment to delivering high-quality construction materials and driving success in these growth regions. With that, let me turn the call over to Maik for his financial review.
Thank you, Enrique, and good morning to everyone. Starting with our financial results on slide 17, consolidated net sales for the fourth quarter decreased 1.3% year-over-year to $335.3 million, primarily due to volume declines and the depreciation of the Mexican peso. In the US, sales increased 4.1%. Cement demand slowed down during the quarter, with volumes declining 0.8%, while concrete volumes grew 4.5%. Cement and concrete prices increased 5.6% and 7.1% respectively. In Mexico, sales decreased 13.9% compared to the prior year quarter, reaching $88.4 million and accounting for 26% of GCC's total sales.
Both cement and concrete volumes declined 9.5% and 10% respectively. However, price increases of 7.2% for cement and 6.5% for concrete partially offset the volume decreases. The depreciation of the Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar reduced Mexico's sales by approximately $12.6 million. Excluding this effect, Mexico's sales decreased by 1.7% during the quarter. For the full year, net sales increased to $1.37 billion. This result reflects a 3.9% increase in U.S. sales, which offset a 7.9% decrease in our Mexico sales. The depreciation of the Mexican peso reduced sales by approximately $12.1 million. Excluding this impact, consolidated net sales increased by 1.1% in 2024. In terms of volumes, we saw declines across both regions. U.S. cement and concrete volume fell by 2.2% and 5.6% respectively, while Mexico experienced an 8.7% drop in cement volumes and a 13.1% decline in concrete volumes. However, pricing provided a significant offset.
Cement and concrete prices rose by 5.5% and 8.1% in the U.S. respectively, and by 4.9% and 6.7% in Mexico. Fourth quarter cost of sales as a percentage of revenue increased around 2 percentage points year-over-year to 64%, driven by higher production cost expenses. These were partially offset by lower production, fuel, and freight costs, as well as favorable selling prices. For the full year, cost of sales were 62.1% of revenues, a decrease of 110 basis points year-over-year. Fourth quarter SG&A expenses as a percentage of sales decreased 130 basis points to 7.9%, and full-year SG&A expenses as a percentage of sales decreased 10 basis points to 8.7%. Fourth quarter EBITDA increased 3.7% compared to the prior year quarter, reaching $121.6 million and an EBITDA margin of 36.3%. U.S. operations contributed 80% of EBITDA for the fourth quarter, while Mexico generated the remaining 20%.
For 2024, EBITDA totaled $500.6 million U.S. dollars, a 6.2% increase compared to 2023. Full-year EBITDA margin reached the company record of 36.6%. This strong performance was driven by our continued focus on cost and expense management, as well as our ability to leverage the flexible fuel strategy we have established over the past years. By optimizing fuel costs across our network and capitalizing on economic opportunities, this strategy delivered savings of approximately 12%, contributing significantly to our margin improvement. Additionally, we benefited from the absence of the costs related to the de-bottlenecking project of our Samalayuca cement plant and the logistical challenges experienced in 2023 due to immigration-related delays at border crossings. In 2024, we utilized low-cost routes, ensuring smooth logistics and more efficient product transportation across the borders.
Moving down the income statement, net financial income reached $11.1 million in the fourth quarter and $47.8 million for the full year, reflecting an increased cash balance. Consolidated net income for the fourth quarter increased 3.9% to $78 million U.S. dollars, while earnings per share grew 3.7% to $0.24. For the full year, consolidated net income increased 9.6%, reaching a record $323.9 million, while earnings per share rose to $0.98. Turning to our cash generation, free cash flow for the fourth quarter was $129.7 million, a 21.2% increase compared to the same period in 2023. This growth reflects lower working capital needs and an increased EBITDA generation. For the full year, free cash flow totaled $321.8 million, a 37.7% increase due to increased EBITDA generation, lower working capital requirements, and higher interest income. During the year, we strategically prioritized capital allocation to support both maintenance CapEx and key growth initiatives.
These included advancing the solar project at our Trident cement plant, as highlighted earlier in the finance section, and making significant progress on the Odessa plant expansion. We're currently completing the construction of the pyro- processing area and progressing with equipment installation. In addition, we are actively working on the commissioning plan and executing a training program for plant personnel to ensure operational readiness ahead of the kiln startup. In 2024, we also executed it on our M&A strategy with an investment of $100 million in aggregate operations in Texas, further strengthening our footprint in key growth markets. Finally, we returned value to shareholders by distributing $30 million in dividends in 2024. This strategic approach reflects our commitment to driving long-term growth while remaining a strong balance sheet to support further growth.
We ended 2024 with $830.6 million U.S. dollars in cash and cash equivalents, and a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of negative 0.67 times. To close, we remain committed to our M&A growth strategy with a clear focus on both cement and aggregates. We will continue to proactively pursue value-creating opportunities that align with our strategic vision and discipline to deliver sustainable growth. With that, I will now hand the call back to Enrique to share his closing remarks.
In closing, we navigated successfully the challenges faced during the year and delivered strong financial and operational results, reflecting the resilience of our business and the effectiveness of our strategy. Turning to slide 25, I would like to now take this opportunity to discuss our 2025 outlook. Despite the high volatility that we expect, especially in the first part of 2025, we remain cautiously optimistic for the full year.
We anticipate steady performance across our key U.S. markets, where U.S. cement volumes are expected to grow in the low single digits, while Mexico's cement volumes are projected to remain flat. Pricing for cement in both regions is forecasted to increase in the mid-single digits. For concrete, we expect U.S. volumes to grow in the mid-single digits, with Mexico volumes holding steady. Pricing for concrete in both the U.S. and Mexico is also expected to rise in the mid-single digits, reflecting our disciplined commercial strategies. To support this growth, we are investing in our U.S. logistics and ready-mix operations by adding terminals and expanding mobile operation capacity. This includes acquiring additional plants and trucks for our fleet and hiring and training a new team for these new operations.
These efforts position us to capitalize on the anticipated growth in the energy segment, with five new projects starting in 2025 and two more continuing from 2024. Overall, we project EBITDA growth in the mid-single digits, underscoring our confidence in the strength of our business model and our ability to navigate market dynamics effectively. We approximate our capital expenditures at $407 million, including $400 million allocated to strategic and growth projects, including the Odessa expansion, and $70 million related to Maintenance CapEx. With that, this concludes our prepared remarks. I will turn the call over to your questions now. Operator, please begin with the first question.
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue, and for participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Our first question is from Alejandra Obregón with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed.
Hi, good morning, GCC team. Thank you for taking my questions. I actually have a couple on your guidance. So first of all, in the U.S. volume and pricing guidance, I was just hoping if you can help us sort of break down what's behind your expectations. Where do you have more conviction for pricing and for volume growth in 2025? Is it oil well cement, non-residential projects, residential, or even aggregates? If you can just help us understand here. Then on your EBITDA growth guidance, just to make sure, how many quarters are you baking in off the aggregates acquisition here? Those are my questions. Thank you.
Good morning, Alejandra. This is Enrique. Thank you for the questions. Let me address first, I mean, the U.S. volumes that we're forecasting in, again, in the U.S. So we are very confident of these volumes based on some of the pipelines that we already have, especially on the concrete side, on many energy-related projects, as I discussed. In terms of the pricing, it has been already, I mean, discussed with all of our customers, most of our customers, and we think it's going to, I mean, hold pretty well. We don't have any questions on that aspect. In oil well cement, we continue to see a very strong, I mean, demand.
Actually, we're always looking for opportunities to produce a little bit more in each one of our kilns, including the Chihuahua kiln that is producing oil well cement, where we have some additional projects, I mean, to increase that production there, so we see a full, I mean, capacity for oil well cement, and we expect a mid-year price increase that has not been disclosed yet, but it's been, I mean, worked with the customers as we speak, and we don't see, again, any issues there to, I mean, go further with that, so again, as I said, we remain cautiously optimistic about all the prospects in the U.S., and of course, as I mentioned, I mean, there is going to be volatility, especially at the beginning, a little bit of difficulty with some of the effects of what may come in front of us.
But overall, we see, I mean, strong market in the year 2025. In terms of your question for aggregates, it's a full year what we're, I mean, anticipating and what we are informed here.
Yeah. And Alejandra, this is Maik, just to add to that. We acquired these assets late last year. And it's still early, but we fully kind of integrated that in our planning for 2025. And we see some very interesting growth potential for those assets. And as we said in the remarks, they're very strategically located, connected with our growth plans for cement in Texas. So there's a lot of kind of good overlap and good potential to improve these businesses, grow these businesses, and leverage some synergies.
Thank you. And if I may follow up on that last part, when you talk about the potential for these assets, is it on the pricing front? Is it because it vertically integrates you in cement? Where is this upside potential coming from?
So we see three areas of opportunity. One, these were smaller operations, family-owned businesses. And we think with our more systematic approach with the operations from our aggregate experience, the four-year experience, we have some opportunity to work together on the operational side, number one. Number two, there is an opportunity for these businesses to sell in different segments, but we see some additional segments that we want to tap into. We mentioned they're very well established in oil and gas, but we see some opportunity in infrastructure projects close to these quarries. So that should help us. That's a little bit around the portfolio of these businesses.
And the third one is, yeah, we have some additional touchpoints now with customers in those markets, again, that allow us to provide even more enhanced offerings. So that should help us to perform in those markets very well.
Thank you. That was very clear.
Our next question is from Carlos Peyrelongue with Bank of America. Please proceed.
Thank you. Thank you, Director, Maik and Sahory for the call. Two questions, if I may. The first one is related to exports from Mexico. What percentage do they represent of your total revenues or volumes? And the second, related to a potential U.S. listing, what would you say is the main challenge to pursue that potential value unlocking possibility? Thank you.
Good morning, Carlos. This is Enrique. I will take the first question, and then Maik will address the second one, Carlos. Exports from Mexico to the U.S., of course, is very variable depending on market conditions both in Mexico and the U.S. But I mean, typically, I mean, they run around 10% of our total sales in the U.S. So it can be a little bit more, it can be a little bit less, depending on contracts and activity around the border.
Thank you. And yeah, Carlos. Carlos, this is Maik. Regarding the question listing, we've mentioned that before. This is a very strategic topic for us. Many things play into that conversation, but we are looking at that kind of from a long-term perspective. Where can we create the best and the most value for shareholders? We have kind of a workstream looking at that in detail, but there's no imminent or immediate kind of action to be expected. Because like we've many times said, it's very strategic for the company. It has to make long-term sense. It has to tie into how we want to grow the company. And all these different dynamics are incorporated. Nevertheless, we're looking at this. We're analyzing kind of the overall context. And when we have more details, we can discuss.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Maik.
Our next question is from Francisco Suárez with Scotiabank. Please proceed.
Thank you. Good morning. Questions and comments. As an exporter at capacity there, it's hard to assume that the very strong force for cement coming from Mexico, that will create further pressure on prices in the United States. And in particular, in your case, can you discuss or share if you are planning to conduct further price hikes and pass through the potential rising tariffs if that actually happens? And the follow-up question on Carlos' question, it seems that now, judging on the price range from Titan America's IPO, it does make sense to do something. I mean, yeah, I know that this is a long-term and very something that has to be very careful tied by you guys. But considering that you are virtually a U.S. player, it seems that that would be the most straightforward way to unlock value. Thank you.
Good morning, Francisco. Enrique Escalante again. I'll answer your question, number one question, then Mike will take care of the second one. It's too early to, I mean, really, I mean, understand the full impact of potential, I mean, U.S. tariff on Mexican cement. We are still very cautiously optimistic again that probably cement will not, I mean, have a tariff. But if it does, I mean, it's based on the volumes that I just discussed with Carlos. It's not material, I mean, for our case. It will be, I mean, difficult to try to pass it along to the customers. Of course, we compete in a market with a lot of domestic cement.
And so it's not easy, I mean, to pass it along. Again, it will be case by case in the case that there is a tariff coming. But again, overall impact, we are not too concerned about it.
Okay.
Yeah. And Francisco, regarding your second question, yes. The U.S. market, we fully understand. The U.S. market is very dynamic. Your opportunities are great. We're monitoring how kind of the capital flow goes at this stage into construction-related companies and the segment. It's part of our analysis, for sure. But like I said earlier, answering, for us, this is a very strategic long-term topic. It has to check and it has to fit into how we see the opportunities to grow the company and to deliver the shareholder value. And those different elements need to be well balanced. And once we have, like I said, once we have our analysis concluded and we had the opportunity to discuss with the key decision-makers, we'll have a further discussion with you guys.
Thank you so much. Congrats again.
Our next question is from Andrés Cardona with Citigroup. Please proceed.
Yes. Thank you. Good morning, Enrique, Mike. When looking at 2024 results, it seems you achieved your long-term EBITDA margin at 36%. So I was wondering how much upside do you see from here? While at the same time, when looking at the, let's say, business plan, you are about to complete the Odessa expansion. So I was wondering if you have been considering to launch a strategy update to guide us about the mid-term strategy view of the company. Where are you going? New growth opportunities, outlook for margins, returns, and so on. So that's it. And congratulations again.
Good morning, Andrés. This is Enrique. On the first question, yeah, reaching 36% was a challenge. I mean, I think we delivered. Going forward, I mean, the main opportunities to continue, I mean, improving the margin would be on pricing, which, of course, we have already mentioned what's in the plan for this year. I'm saying this because, obviously, I mean, energy is a variable that we need to keep in mind all the time.
I mean, gas prices continue to seem very favorable, I mean, for us, I mean, this year, 2025. So that will help us maintain, I mean, our market. The other aspect that is very important in the final margin is the mix of products that we're selling. So as we are adding, I mean, more ready-mix projects, for example, I mean, that changes, I mean, our total, I mean, margin or the increases in aggregates will, I mean, eventually help us improve the margin. So it's still a little bit early to say, I mean, where we're going from this current margin. But definitely, we're, I mean, going to try to capture future opportunities in the mid-term to continue to improve that 36.6% margin. In terms of the strategy, I think that we continue, I mean, with a very well-defined strategy. And we're not departing from that.
What we have been saying in the past is we'll continue to grow in the US, mainly in cement and aggregates, and mostly around our footprint, trying to connect our operations and give more and create more synergies to our network. Having said that, we're not opposed to looking to other potential opportunities in the U.S. as they come in front of us and make sense for us. So same strategy, very consistent. As the market knows, we're, I mean, conservative in our approach, I mean, discipline. And that's how we're going to continue moving forward.
Thank you, Eduardo.
Our next question is from Marcelo Furlong with Itaú BBA. Please proceed. Hi everyone.
Good morning. Hi, Enrique. Hi, Maik. Thanks for taking my question here. My question is related to capital allocation going forward. So you guys already have this guidance of $470 million per CapEx. So my question is, is this acquisition of $100 million that you guys announced in early January already included in this $400 million CapEx group? And if you also could provide more details related to the CapEx for the Odessa plant for 2025, this would be helpful. It would be helpful as well. Thank you.
Marcelo, thanks for the question. I will answer the first part, and then maybe you can help me with the second part. We didn't hear completely the context of your question there. But the first part, as I understood it, was how the aggregate acquisitions included. No, that was all taken care of at the end of 2024. So in the current guidance, we don't have specific M&A growth CapEx in that. That capital right now really is the growth, mainly driven by the Odessa expansion, right?
Really in that final stretch now to complete the plan in 2025. So that's the majority of that CapEx. And then we have some CapEx allocated to, like Enrique said, enhance the network already in anticipation for the additional volume we have coming from Odessa. We have made some strategic moves already. We have acquired land in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and we're breaking ground to establish a terminal there. We see that as part of our key growth strategy. In addition, we have some other terminal opportunities, again, to enhance the network, to take care of the growth opportunities of the volume that we have available. And also what Enrique mentioned earlier, to continue to optimize kind of the logistics cost structure and to defend the margins that we have and to work on expanding. The other important aspect there, sorry, one more point.
The other important aspect, as Enrique mentioned, we have some good mobile ready-mix projects in the pipeline. And in order to service those, we will acquire some equipment, plants, trucks, and to really position to service those. So that's part of that growth strategy and CapEx for this year.
Okay. That was clear. My second question was related to how much of CapEx do you guys expect to disburse to the Odessa plant?
So yeah, Odessa, as we have said, the overall number really hasn't changed. We plan to come in at that 750 or below, working still hard on that. We spent about half, a little bit more than half of that up to this point. So the simple math says we need to execute a little bit less than half this year into the first part of 2026. Again, these big projects, some of the actual cash flow is slightly delayed. We've been able to negotiate some good terms. But for Odessa, slightly over $300 million will be deployed this year on the expansion.
Okay. Thank you so much, guys.
As a reminder, this is star one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to ask a question, our next question is from André Reis with MSF. Please proceed.
Hi guys. Congratulations on your results. I wanted to ask one, when do you expect Odessa to be ready? How can higher natural gas prices impact the benefit that you had on the flexible fuel strategy, given that it reached $4 in January? And could Trump, the third question, could Trump cancel the leases for SunZia and the wind farm project? He has made some comments on that. Thank you.
Hi André This is Enrique. I'll answer the first and third question, and I will let Maik speak to the second one. The Odessa plant construction is coming, I mean, on target. As of today, we're on time and on budget, and we expect to commission and start up the plant in the first quarter of next year. Sometime around the middle of the quarter, we should be, I mean, starting to commission the plant and be fully operational by the end of the quarter. On the second question, I will let Maik, I mean, answer.
Yep, so André, on the question about gas, we said that before. We manage our fuel strategy proactive, right? So A, we have some hedging opportunities specifically for our U.S. operations. And we have a team that really monitors that and hedges when there are opportunities. So we expect kind of a normal flow for the U.S. from a gas perspective. Mexico is similar. Although we don't hedge in Mexico, we monitor very closely the development of gas. And then we compensate if there are opportunities with the alternative fuels. As we have mentioned in the past, we have seen some increases in alternative fuels. These are typically very economical fuels that then compensate if we see some dynamics with higher gas prices.
And then, as we've always said, we have our kind of final natural hedge with the coal if we need to utilize the coal. So that strategy and these very specific investments, hedging strategies, put us in a good position to manage those cost items pretty well.
Andreas, can you please repeat for us the third question?
Yes. So Trump mentioned that he might cancel the federal leases for IRA programs. I was wondering if SunZia and the wind farm project sit on this and could be impacted by that. Have you heard anything in that regard?
Yes, sir. What we know is that the projects that we have on the pipeline that I have been addressing and the ones that we're going to invest in some additional equipment, what we hear is those projects are totally funded, totally approved, of course, and funded. And they are not subject, I mean, to cancellations at this moment. So we're pretty confident that those are already. I mean, some of them are already going on. And the other for this year, the rest for this year are, I mean, just about to start soon. So we don't expect those to be canceled.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That concludes our question and answer session. I'll turn the floor back over to Ms. Ogushi. Please proceed.
Thank you, everyone. We appreciate you taking the time today to join us and for your interest in GCC. We look forward to speaking with you again soon.
Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation.