Grupo Argos announces three concrete actions to support Colombia amid the current situation

• “Alianza Corporativa para la Reactivación del Empleo” (Corporate Alliance for Employment Reactivation) to train and connect 6,000 young people and women with job opportunities.
• “Sembrando Futuro” (Planting the Future) planting 1 million trees per year over and above the 8 million already planted by Grupo Empresarial Argos in Colombia.
•  “Ambientes Saludables” (Healthy Environments) to improve housing and standards of living for over 5,000 people in the country.

These three programs seek to contribute to the country’s situation and are aimed at employment generation, the struggle against climate change, and improving the standard of living of vulnerable families and families living in poverty in Colombia.

Corporate Alliance for Employment Reactivation aimed at young people and women
Together with Comfama, Proantioquia and other companies, Grupo Empresarial Argos will train 6,000 young people and women and will focus their efforts on achieving employability for 2,000 people.

• Initial program investment: COP 16 billion.
• Beneficiary population: 6,000 young people and women.

“This alliance we have been working on for over a year, aims to train our young people quickly and appropriately and connect them with quality, formal, and sustainable employment to help build hope.”
Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Grupo Argos.

Planting the Future
We will plant 1 million trees a year in Colombia as of 2021. Aware of the importance of contributing to the efforts made against climate change, dealing with deforestation, and creating employment, we take on a challenge that positions us as the private actor that has planted the most trees voluntarily in the country.

• Trees planted to date by Grupo Empresarial Argos: 8 million.
• Additional trees: 1 million trees per year.
• Investment by the Planting the Future for 2021: COP $2.7 billion.
• Employment created: 1,000 jobs per million trees.

Healthy environtments
Through our Cementos Argos Healthy Environments program, we will continue dignifying the housing of our neighboring communities in Antioquia, Valle, Sucre, Bolivar, and Atlantico, replacing dirt floors for concrete floors and developing healthy environments with kitchens and bathrooms.

Besides the 35,000 people that already benefit from this program, we will add another 5,200 people this year and continue scaling up its impact in subsequent years.

“These three programs add up to COP 20 billion in actions and configure a solidary, concrete response by the organization to the current situation by creating over 4,000 jobs” Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Grupo Argos.

Grupo Empresarial Argos fully believes that Colombia will overcome this difficult situation thanks to the different actors’ will and capacities for consensus and dialog, understanding that Colombia’s young people must be prioritized. The organization also emphasizes the importance of supporting our institutions, privileging dialog, rejecting any kind of violence, fostering respect, and guaranteeing healthy coexistence within the country.

“Our optimism and hope that the country will find, in dialog and consensus, the foundations to deal with the great social and economic challenges we have as a nation is intact. We respect the legitimate right to peaceful protest, we are sensitive towards the situation of the most vulnerable, mainly young people and women. We call for blockades to be lifted and for the Strike Committee to enter into conversations with the Government.” Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Grupo Argos.

The social and employment programs announced can be implemented thanks to the progressive recovery of Grupo Empresarial Argos’ business, with 3% year-over-year revenue growth and 25% consolidated ebitda margin achieved during the first quarter.

Financial results summary

Important events during the quarter:

• During the first quarter of 2021, the company shared its CO₂ emissions reduction goal with an ambitious plan that will allow it to reduce emissions by 46% for every million pesos in consolidated revenue by 2030, and that puts the Corporate Group on the road towards becoming carbon neutral.
• Grupo Argos closed the first loan in the country tied to sustainability indicators for COP 392 billion with Bancolombia.
• S&P confirmed its AA+ rating for Grupo Argos and changed its outlook from stable to positive, in recognition of the Corporate Group’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the resilience of its portfolio, and its good financial results for the first quarter of 2021.