03 April /17

 TRENDS (EL ECONOMISTA 7) GRUMA. During the first quarter the corn and tortilla producer accumulated a 0.16 percent increase.

04 April /17

 LAST CALL FOR GRUMADIVIDENDS (ECONOMÍAHOY.MX 0) Friday this week  (April 07) was the day chosen by Gruma to pay its investors. Nevertheless, today was the last day of the term established to maintain a portfolio of shares in order to be entitled to payment. The corn flour and tortilla producer will credit its shareholders a 0.5 peso-per-share dividend. This is the same amount paid on three previous occasions. The payment represents a 0.19% profit per dividend (at current prices). Market consensus according to FactSet is that in 2017,Gruma is expected to produce a net profit of 6,359 millions of pesos, which will grow 11% before 2018 to over 7,000 million pesos.

05 April /17

 CONCAEM PREPARES TRADE MISSION TO MALAYSIA (MILENIO DIARIO DE MONTERREY 0) The ambassador of Malaysia, Mohammad Azhar Mazlan, said that in October this year, members of the Chamber and Business Association Council of the State of Mexico (Concaem; Consejo de Cámaras y Asociaciones Empresariales del Estado de México) will visit Malaysia as part of a trade mission also visiting Japan, Vietnam, and Singapore. The idea – he said – is to build commercial bonds between the State of Mexico and Malaysia where new businesses can be established very quickly. He went on to say that Mexican companies like Cemex, KidZania, andGrumaalready have a presence in his country.

06 April /17

 TRADE EXCHANGE BETWEEN MEXICO AND SPAIN (ONCE NOTICIAS (NOCTURNO)Adrián Díaz: In the mid 90’s, Mexico and Spain began to further their trade and economic relations. As a result, our country consolidated itself as a premier trade partner of Spain. In the past ten years, trade grew 12 percent, from 6,908 million to 7,737 million dollars… In 2006, Spanish product imports amounted to 3,638 millions of dollars, and last year, 4,456 million dollars, which represent 22 percent growth. The most important Mexican companies present in Spain are Cemex, Softtek,Gruma, Bimbo, Pemex, AeroMexico, and Cinepolis.

08 April /17

CARSTENS: NAFTA CAN STILL AFFORD MUTUAL BENEFITS. (MILENIO DIARIO 21) (EL UNIVERSAL 17) (LA JORNADA 19) (MILENIO DIARIO DE MONTERREY 0) (EL PORVENIR.MX 0) The Governor of the Bank of Mexico, Agustín Carstens, strongly defended Nafta saying that instead of reverting decades of economic integration, we should follow the path of looking more in depth into the yet unexploited benefits of the partnership. “Instead of reverting decades of economic integration, the path to move forward is to look in depth into the yet unexploited benefits to be reaped from a profound economic integration,” he said during the inaugural symposium of theMissionFoods Mexico-Texas Center, at the Southern Methodist University. Carstens was one of the speakers at the first symposium held by the Center, which opened its doors last year at the campus of the Southern Methodist University to research economic, political, and social relations between Mexico and Texas. This research program was created through a million-dollar donation from theGruma-Mission Foodsconsortium, a Mexican firm with global reach headquartered in Dallas.

10 April /17

 TRENDS (EL ECONOMISTA 7)GRUMA. Standard & Poor's Global Ratings confirmedGruma’s global ‘BBB’ rating…

18 April /17

 MEXICO’S MILLIONAIRES 2017 (FORBES MEXICO 95-107)Juan A. González Moreno and family rank 7 in this listing. Banorte maintains a healthy 15.28% rate of capitalization, above the Basel Standard, and the average for the sector. Regarding Gruma, the company’s business perspective remains positive due to a stronger dollar and to the fact that 60% of company revenues are produced in US currency. Additionally, in terms of volume the company continues to perform well in United States.Gruma is the major corn flour and tortilla manufacturer. Banorte is the fourth largest bank, and the most important Afore in Mexico.

 BUY, KEEP, SELL (FORBES MEXICO 20) Buy.Gruma. Operations in each one of this issuer’s markets remain positive thanks to solid volume performance and improved prices in markets like Mexico, in addition to a growing US market share.

 THE 50 MOST IMPORTANT MEXICAN BUSINESSES (MUNDO EJECUTIVO 6-42-51) Despite hard times, our pool of companies is proving out the stability of our national economy, as evidenced by pooled total sales, measured in dollars from 2010 to date, that show 14% growth at a 1.92% annualized growth rate in the same period. This reveals the development of Aztec industry in recent years… Our ranking is supported by information provided by Economática, where Gruma ranks 23.

22 April /17

 GRUMA OBTAINS A 400 MILLION-DOLLAR LOAN TO REFINANCE DEBT (LA JORNADA 18) (EL SOL DE MEXICO 5) (MILENIO DIARIO DE MONTERREY 0) (EL NORTE (ON LINE) 0) (EL ECONOMISTA 3) (EXCÉLSIOR 2) (EL FINANCIERO 17) (LA RAZÓN 20) (LA CRÓNICA DE HOY 24)Gruma obtained a  long-term syndicated loan for 400 million dollars, part of which was set aside to refinance bank debts due in 2017 and 2018. Information sent to the Mexican Stock Exchange highlighted that the loan was secured in equal parts from Banamex, Bank of America, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Coöperatieve Rabobank, New York Branch, JPMorgan Chase Bank, and The Bank of Nova Scotia... This refinancing will allow Gruma to restructure its debt under better cost terms, improve its debt profile, and increase the amount of available lines of credit which to date account for 434-million dollars.

25 April /17

GRUMA OBTAINS CREDIT TO REFINANCE LIABILITIES (MILENIO TV) Bárbara Anderson:Today’s story is about one of Mexico’s giant exporters:Gruma, which as many of you know is the leading corn flour producer.  The company stated it had improved the terms of its debt thanks to a long-term syndicated loan it was able to secure in the amount of 400-million dollars. The funds will basically benefit the company’s liabilities. The loan was extended by a group of 7 banks, including Banco Nacional de Mexico, Bank of America, and JP Morgan. The company – owner of none other that theMaseca brand– will be able to improve its financial structure without increasing its debt, and in this way settle a few short-term commitments as well as save on its interest rate (close to 50 basis points) vs. its current situation. This further improvesGruma’s already healthy debt management...

 GRUMA OBTAINS SYNDICATED LOAN (EN FIRME 90.5 FM)David Páramo:Gruma obtained a long-term syndicated loan in the amount of 400 million dollars to refinance bank debts payable this year and the next. The financing scheme includes a 5-year 150 million-dollar credit. Who said no one trusted Mexican companies nor in their future?

 GRUMAWILL HAVE THE BEST FIGURES IN THE CONSUMER PRODUCTS SECTOR (EL ECONOMISTA 4) According to a Citibanamex Casa de Bolsa analysis,Gruma is expected to obtain the best results during the first quarter of 2017, among the consumer products companies listed in the Mexican Stock Exchange. Next in sales results will be Oxxo, FEMSA, ArcaContinental, Grupo Bimbo, and Alsea.Gruma also tops the list in annual organic growth in operating cash flows (EBITDA) followed by Alsea, Arca Continental, Grupo Bimbo, Oxxo, and Sanborns.

27 April /17

 GRUMAREPORTS $17,677 MILLION IN SALES FOR Q1. (LA JORNADA 21) (REFORMA 8) (EL NORTE (ON LINE) 0) (EL UNIVERSAL 8) (EXCÉLSIOR 9) (EL FINANCIERO 26) (LA RAZÓN 22) (EL SOL DE MEXICO 5) (MILENIO DIARIO DE MONTERREY 0) (ELHORIZONTE PP FINANZAS) (ELPORVENIR PP ECONÓMICO) (MILENIO TV) Driven by activities in its subsidiaries in United States and MexicoGruma, a Mexicanmulti-national company, reported last Wednesday 17,677 million pesos in sales at the end of Q1 this year. This is 12 percent more than sales recorded during the same period in 2016. Between January and March this year,Gruma continued expanding its operations and was able to grow sales in all of its subsidiaries.Gimsa, its subsidiary in Mexico and Gruma United States are the business units that drove sales growth upward, and that show the company that markets for its products are expanding, said the report.

 IMBALANCE (EL UNIVERSAL 2) The year is off to a good start. Despite the adverse climate in Mexico, consumer goods companies like John Santa María’s Coca-Cola FEMSA;Juan González Moreno’s Gruma; Renzo Casillo’s Alsea, and Guillermo González Nova’s La Cómer, among others have reported robust results in the first quarter this year. These corporations tell us that it was not easy: their last year’s baseline for comparison was complicated, especially because Holy Week was in April this year, whereas last year it was in March.

CORONA, THE CHAMPION IN BRAND EQUITY. (CAPITAL MEXICO 20) (EL UNIVERSAL 1-3) (Nota con pase de primera de Cartera) (LA RAZÓN 22) (MILENIO DIARIO 22) (EL SOL DE MEXICO 6) (DIARIO IMAGEN pp-4) Once again, Corona beer positioned itself as Mexico’s most valuable brand at 84,123 million pesos according to Interbrand. In its study on the best Mexican brands, Interbrand indicated that total value of the 25 brands analyzed this year exceeds 418,722 million pesos. This demonstrates the weight of these brands in the Mexican economy.  Ranking fourth is the food sector worth 55,206 million pesos, and comprised by Bimbo, Lala, Bachoco, and Maseca...

28 April /17

CARLOS MOTA/BUSINESS DESK (EL FINANCIERO 16) One of the most outstanding companies in the complicated world of Nafta is Gruma, a predominant firm in the corn flour and tortilla industry. A peculiar incident occurred in these past two days exactly coinciding with Donald Trump’s “release” of information published online by Político indicating that United States would abandon NAFTA, then recoiling yesterday morning after phone calls with Peña Nieto and Trudeau. Meanwhile, in its quarterly report, the Mexican company released this jewel: “Gruma investments during the first quarter of 2017 amounted to US $58 million, and were mainly devoted to (1) United States, to build a tortilla plant in Dallas; expand the corn flour plant in Indiana; and expand the tortilla plant in Florida...” Investing so much money in new projects that were kicked off during the same quarter when Donald Trump took office and threatened NAFTA, is one of the boldest and worthiest actions to be remembered throughout this period of stress and uncertainty prior to the renegotiation of the treaty. Who would have thought that while many businessmen are cancelling investments or putting them on hold until the renegotiation is complete,Gruma would go ahead and invest in the United States? …

30 April /17

JOSÉ LUIS VALDÉS UGALDE/MEXICO AND CHINA: FACING TRUMP’S TRICKS (EXCÉLSIOR 8) Once again Donald Trump returned to his megalomaniacal tricks: he made statements against NAFTA, in favor of NAFTA on the following day, and finally, conditioned US permanence in the treaty to guaranteeing his nation’s interests… The most important Mexican companies in China include Bimbo andGrupo Maseca. In 2006,Gruma (Grupo Maseca) opened a new plant in Feng Xian, close to Shanghai, thanks to conditions such as dense population in the area and one of the highest income levels.