CNBV DELIVERS DISCLOSURE REPORT ON 269 ISSUERS (EL SOL DE MÉXICO 5) The National Banking and Securities Commission (Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores - CNBV) has published its compliance indicator, rating the disclosure activities of 269 issuers, eight of which were categorized as red due to providing poor-quality information... The green-category issuers that topped the list with 100 points for high-quality disclosure included LOVEPOL, ELEMENT, FINDEP, FEMSA, COLLADO, GENSEG, LAB, GRUMA, AEROMEX and OMA.

“THE OLDER YOU GET... THE BETTER THINGS BECOME” (EXPANSIÓN 142-143) It might not be an exact science, but the trend among the “100 Leading Businesspeople in Mexico” indicates that long-standing companies achieve greater sales. No company formed since 1968 has sales exceeding MXN 100 billion, whereas 11 companies formed before that date breach this figure. Gruma is one such company, which figures among the companies founded between 1943 and 1952.

FROM MONTERREY (EL NORTE (ON LINE) 0) Gruma is beginning to yield dividends from its seven-year-long sponsorship of the Western Bulldogs, a club that plays in the top league (the AFL) of Australian rules football, a popular sport down under which somewhat resembles rugby. The team has just been crowned league champions, thus raising the profile of Mission, the subsidiary of Gruma specializing in tortillas, totopos, pita breads and other Mexican snacks, which first arrived in the country in 2009. So confident was Gruma’s CEO and chairman Juan González Moreno that the Melbourne-based team would emerge victorious, that he travelled to watch the championship game against the Sydney Swans.

JESÚS RANGEL/TUG-OF-WAR (MILENIO DIARIO 28) Meeting Room. Since 2009, Gruma has sponsored the Aussie rules football team the Western Bulldogs, the new league champions, as part of its strategy to position Mission Foods in Australia. Juan González Moreno, Chairman and CEO of Gruma, is proud of his boys, who also eat tortillas...

IN FULL VIEW/GRUMA SPONSORS THE AUSSIE RULES FOOTBALL TEAM TO STRENGTHEN ITS POSITION IN AUSTRALIA (EL ECONOMISTA 20) (REFORMA 1) (EXCÉLSIOR 27) (EL FINANCIERO 18) (LA JORNADA 23) Gruma has announced that since 2009 it has been the sponsor of the Aussie rules football team and current league champions the Western Bulldogs, which it sponsors through its Mission global brand. In a press release, Gruma’s CEO and Chairman Juan González Moreno said that when Mission was launched in Australia in 2009, they picked up on the country’s enormous market potential. “We promptly got down to work positioning the Mission global brand among Australian consumers. The partnership with the Bulldogs was a key part of that strategy,” he said. Mission Foods is now the longest-running sponsor of a sports club in Australia.

PORTFOLIO (EL NORTE) (SOL DE MÉXICO.COM) Gruma is the champion in Australia: Juan González Moreno, the chairman of Gruma, shows off the cup won by the Western Bulldogs, the professional Aussie rules club that his company sponsors down under.

THE WESTERN BULLDOGS: AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS. (MILENIO TV NOTICIAS (12:00 A 13:00) Andrés Guerra: I’d like to tell you about the Western Bulldogs, who are sponsored by Gruma through its Mission global brand and who clinched this year’s Aussie Rules premiership by defeating the Sydney Swans 89-67 in the Australian Football League Grand Final, which was played in front of a crowd of 100,000 spectators at the legendary Melbourne Cricket Ground. Upon hearing the result of the AFL Grand Final, Juan González Moreno, the CEO and Chairman of Gruma, expressed his tremendous pride at the title triumph obtained by the club, which his company has sponsored since 2009.

CAPTAINS. (REFORMA 3) (EL NORTE) Gruma in the community. The community in Nuevo León needs no reminding of the social importance of the UANL University Hospital. The hospital assists tens of thousands of patients a year, many of whom come from outside of Nuevo León, from states such as Coahuila, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas and Veracruz. As you might expect, like all public-service institutions its need for funding increases as its demand continues to grow. That’s why the actions of local businesses are so important, such as the one now being announced by the Gruma Foundation, the social branch of the company headed by Juan González Moreno. The foundation is contributing funding for the operation of two new clinics at the University Hospital, one of which will have a capacity of 50 beds to carry out 40,000 hemodialyses a year. May there be many such initiatives to come.

NEW KIDNEY UNIT (MILENIO DIARIO DE MONTERREY) “Congratulations to Dr. Santos Guzmán”; I just happened to hear that a new kidney unit is being opened at the University Hospital, and that it will be named after Roberto González Barrera, a good friend of mine who was also the founder of Gruma and Banorte. I was overcome by joy and a sense of wistfulness because in 1964 I had the good fortune to open the hospital’s kidney unit and to purchase an artificial kidney. This was the first one in operation in the country. It meant saving the lives of many people who previously would have died.

GRUMA OPENS PLANT IN KUALA LUMPUR (MILENIO DIARIO DE MONTERREY) (EL PORVENIR.MX) Following an investment to the tune of USD 55 million, Gruma’s chairman and CEO Juan González Moreno opened a plant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which will produce 30,000 metric tons per year of tortillas and flatbreads such as wraps and pizza bases. The Mexican business leader thus affirmed his commitment to customers, consumers, suppliers and shareholders, as he celebrated this important step towards strengthening the firm globally and fortifying its position as a global leader in the production of corn flour, tortillas and wraps.

JUAN MANUEL DE ANDA / THIS MOUTH IS MINE. (24 HORAS 10) Gruma in Malaysia. One company that continues to expand internationally is Gruma, led by Juan González Moreno, which this week opened the company’s second Malaysian plant, which will produce 30,000 metric tons per year of tortillas, chips and flatbreads, following an investment of USD 55 million.

GRUMA OPENS NEW PLANT IN MALAYSIA (MILENIO TV (10:00 to 12:00))Blanca Garza: Following an investment of USD 55 million,Gruma’sChairman and CEO Juan González Moreno, opened a plant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which will produce 30,000 metric tons per year of tortillas and flatbreads such as wraps and pizza bases. The Mexican business leader thus affirmed his commitment to customers, consumers, suppliers and shareholders, as he celebrated this important step towards strengthening the firm globally and fortifying its position as a global leader in the production of corn flour, tortillas and wraps. He also stressed that this particular investment will enable the firm to identify the business opportunities that Malaysia has to offer.

POSITIVE QUARTERLY REPORTS EXPECTED (EL HORIZONTE ONLINE 0) Despite the Mexican peso having depreciated significantly against the US dollar in Q316, and despite a challenging economic climate, most of the companies listed on the local market are expected to post positive quarterly reports. The analysis covers nine Monterrey issuers: Cemex, Gruma, Coca-Cola FEMSA, OMA, Banregio and Grupo Famsa will post positive reports, while Arca Continental, Alpek and Nemak will post neutral results.

SHARED TRIUMPHS (MILENIO DIARIO 1-14-16) The bilateral relationship between Mexico and Spain is considered one of the closest and most profitable in the world. In the first half of 2016, Mexican investment across the Atlantic exceeded USD 125 million, whereas Iberian firms have expended USD 1.85 billion in Mexico... Over the past seven years (up to 2015), the amount of Mexican capital invested on Spanish soil increased 14-fold at an average rate of USD 140 million per year. The list of investments is long... Gruma purchased Azteca Foods, a producer and seller of tortillas and totopos, for USD 50 million.

CAPTAINS (REFORMA 3) (EL NORTE (ONLINE) 0) Distant Dragon. That awkward time of year has come when the Mexico-China High-Level Business Group meets and subsequently goes unnoticed. In 2013, the two countries signed an agreement to meet once a year to further their economic and commercial relations. Back then, it was considered a landmark for their relationship... This year’s meeting was held in Beijing, the capital of China, and the agenda focused on infrastructure, energy and communications. The meeting was chaired by Constantino Flores, Gruma’s VP of Operations in Asia, and Wang Yongsheng, Vice President of the China Development Bank. It was also attended by Francisco González of ProMéxico and Liu Dianxun, director of the China Investment Promotion Agency. So what outcomes, agreements and commitments were made? Well, just like every other year, only the attendees know the answer.

NUTRITIONISTS WARN THAT GIVING UP TORTILLAS IS DANGEROUS (EL UNIVERSAL.COM) Nutritionist Calderón Parra added that “Tortillas are one of the most wholesome foods we find in Mexico, and it is hard to find the same nutritional properties in any other food, particularly as far as corn tortillas are concerned, since brands such as Maseca and Minsa fortify their tortillas with folic acid, iron, zinc, vitamins and minerals.”

VÍCTOR SÁNCHEZ BAÑOS/POWER AND MONEY (VÉRTIGO 52) Money. Gruma, under the leadership of Juan González Moreno, has put into operation a plant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which will produce 30,000 metric tons per year of tortillas, chips and flatbreads such as wraps and pizza bases. In his speech to Malaysian government officials and Carlos Felix Corona, Mexico’s Ambassador to Malaysia, the Nuevo León-based business leader told his audience that, with this USD 55 million investment and through its Mission global brand, Gruma is stepping up the commitment it made upon its arrival in the country in 2007 to produce foods that are adapted to the lifestyle, culture and needs of Malaysian consumers.

GRUMA HAS POSITIONED ITSELF IN THE CHINESE MARKET AFTER ONE DECADE, SAYS CEO (LA JORNADA 26) (EL NORTE.COM) (REFORMA.COM) (EL SOL DE MÉXICO 1-7) (EL UNIVERSAL 2) (EXCÉLSIOR 2) (EL ECONOMISTA 30) (LA CRÓNICA DE HOY 26) In commemoration of the ten-year anniversary of Grupo Maseca's (Gruma) operations in China, Juan González Moreno, the Chairman and CEO of the global leader in the production and sale of corn-based products, announced that “With this state-of-the-art plant, which has an installed production capacity of 38,000 metric tons per year of traditional corn and flour tortillas, flatbreads such as wraps, and chips, we are proud to serve our customers of international and Chinese fast-food chains.” He added that “As in all countries and regions where we operate, we are doing this with quality, professionalism and top-of-the-line food products.” Juan González Moreno recalled that “Throughout this decade, Gruma has strengthened its position in the Chinese market by offering fresh, top-quality products through its Mission brand, which customers and consumers can now purchase for in-home consumption at thousands of supermarkets and convenience stores throughout the East Asian country.”

GRUMA CELEBRATES 10 YEARS IN CHINA/BARBARA ANDERSON (MILENIO TV) Barbara Anderson: Today’s news story concerns Gruma, one of Mexico’s most internationally-progressive companies, which is celebrating ten years since it began operations in the competitive Chinese market. The company, now led by Juan González Moreno, offers the full line of Mission products in the market, which is one of the largest in the world. Gruma has a plant in Shanghai with an installed production capacity of 38,000 metric tons per year of corn and flour tortillas, flatbreads such as wraps, and chips.Gruma has strengthened its position in the Chinese market by offering fresh, top-quality products, which its customers and consumers can buy at thousands of supermarkets and convenience stores...

ARCA AND GRUMA STEP FORWARD (EL ECONOMISTA pp-1-8-9) (EL NORTE) (REFORMA 5) (LA JORNADA 25) (EXCÉLSIOR 1-2) (EL FINANCIERO 18) (LA RAZÓN 17) (EXCÉLSIOR 8) (24 HORAS 15) (EL SOL DE MÉXICO 2) (EL HORIZONTE) Grupo Maseca (Gruma) reported a 12% increase in its Q316 sales compared to the same period last year. Its EBITDA was up by 16%, and its net profit also increased by 11%. These gains could largely be attributed to the sales of its US subsidiary, whose results were positively affected by the MXN-USD exchange rate. The firm’s consolidated net sales were up 12% to MXN 17.209 billion due to the weakness of the peso against the dollar, which particularly benefitted the sales of Gruma USA once their sales were reflected in pesos. Its operating profit and EBITDA increased by 22% and 16%, respectively, and its net majority income rose by 11%...

GRUMA’S EBITDA UP BY 16% THANKS TO US OPERATIONS (EL NORTE) (EL ECONOMISTA 3) The United States was the main driver of Gruma’s 16% increase in EBITDA during the third quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, rising from MXN 2.412 billion to MXN 2.806 billion.

“WE WANT MXN 35 BILLION IN PROFITS BY 2020” (EL UNIVERSAL 5) Carlos Hank González, grandson of the man known as “El Profesor”, arrives at Torre Banorte in the capital city of Nuevo León at 4 p.m. after attending a meeting of Gruma’s Board of Directors. The business leader is the Chairman of Grupo Financiero Banorte, Vice President of the multinational tortilla producer Gruma, and Director of Grupo Hermes. In our interview, the banking executive laid down a concrete figure: he wants his bank to make MXN 35 billion in profit by 2020, which is double the MXN 17 billion posted in 2015. His goal is to become not only the biggest, but also the best bank in Mexico. I’m lucky to have as my uncle the Board Chairman and CEO of Gruma, Juan González Moreno, who has the right vision and direction...

TRENDS (EL ECONOMISTA 7) GRUMA The company reported a double-digit increase in its earnings, EBITDA and net profits in the third quarter.

THE WORST IS OVER, 2017 LOOKING BETTER THAN OTHER YEARS (MILENIO DIARIO 31) Various factors such as the decline in oil prices and the US presidential elections have meant tough times for the Mexican economy. But in the opinion of Marcos Ramírez Miguel, CEO of Grupo Financiero Banorte, the worst has been overcome and, although extraordinary growth is by no means expected, 2017 is set to be a better year than many previous years, which will help his company to achieve its greatest goal: to become the best bank in Mexico... As we spoke in his office, he recalled the mandate he received from Carlos Hank González, chairman of the Board of Directors of Grupo Financiero Banorte, to not only keep the bank founded by his grandfather Roberto González Barrera alive in Mexicans’ memory, but also to turn it into the best bank in the country.