Displaying items by tag: Thatta
Thatta Cement grows sales in current financial year
22 August 2017Pakistan: Thatta Cement’s sales revenue rose by 34% to US$36.3m in its financial year that ended on 30 June 2017, from US$27.1m in the same period in 2016. Its profit increased by 8.7% to US$6.8m from US$6.3m.
Thatta Cement appoints Muhammad Taha Hamdani as a director
21 December 2016Pakistan: Thatta Cement has appointed Muhammad Taha Hamdani as a director with effect from 16 December 2016. He replaces Wazir Ali Khoja. Hamdani has worked for Thatta Cement as its Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary since 2011. Previously to this he has worked for a variety of companies in financial and auditing positions.
Sri Lanka: Work on a Thatta Cement project in Sri Lanka has ended because the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has not yet executed the Land Lease Agreement (LLA). Basic engineering for the cement grinding, storing and bagging plant has been completed but the project has been suspended pending legal issues.
Thatta Cement secretary Taha Hamdani has complained to capital market regulators about the SLPA also signing an agreement with another company whose operational area lies close to its cement project. It appears to obstruct setting up of the cement project within the layout originally planned by the SLPA. The company officials say further progress on the project would recommence 'as soon as LLA is signed with SLPA'.
Thatta Cement suspends project in Sri Lanka
18 March 2014Sri Lanka: Work on Thatta Cement's cement grinding, storing and bagging plant in Sri Lanka has come to a screeching halt.
The company informed investors on 14 March 2014 that the project was 'temporarily suspended' as the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) had not executed the Land Lease Agreement (LLA), despite the fact that basic engineering of the project had been completed by Thatta Cement Company (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of Thatta Cement Company.
The CFO and company secretary of Thatta Cement, Muhammad Taha Hamdani, complained that the SLPA had also signed an agreement with another business venture of car trans-shipment in close vicinity to the proposed cement project, "Without anticipating the expected operational conflict, which now appears to hinder setting up the proposed cement project within the layout originally planned by the SLPA."
The company official stated that further progress on the project would recommence as soon as the LLA is signed with the SLPA.
Sri Lanka – destination or stopover?
24 July 2013Sri Lankan cement demand fell in the first half of 2013. Yet this doesn't seem to be stopping the cement industry's slow recovery following the civil war that ended in 2009.
As reported by Sri Lankan media around the launch of Holcim Lanka's 2012 Sustainability Report, the local cement industry has seen volumes fall by 7% but this is expected to improve in the second half. Tokyo Cement, a grinding plant operator, confirmed a similar drop in the first quarter of 2013.
Despite the talk of downturn so far in 2013, Tokyo Cement has announced plans for a 1Mt/yr cement plant costing US$50m complete with its own captive biomass power plant. In addition, plans have emerged of a joint venture involving Pakistan's D.G. Khan Cement to build a grinding plant at Hambantota in the south of the island. Costing US$15m, the plant is intended to process exports to South Africa and Kenya.
The explicit intention to produce clinker in Pakistan and then grind it in Sri Lanka before export to a third destination makes an interesting notion. The Pakistan cement producer may benefit from being able to export cement from Sri Lanka with the added security of knowing that the grinding plant is located in a growing market itself. A helpful strategy given Pakistan's cement production overcapacity.
The Hambantota project is also noteworthy because another Pakistan-based company, Thatta Cement, announced in April 2013 that it had signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority to a build a grinding and bagging plant at Hambantota. Also in 2013 the Nepali entrepreneur Binod Chaudhary submitted a US$75m plan for a cement plant in the north of the island.
Of course all of this appears miniscule in comparison to the level of investment Semen Indonesia has chalked up to spend between now and 2016: up to a whopping US$2bn.
Elsewhere in the news this week the price of extending a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deadline has revealed itself to be US$1.5m. Lafarge North America has succeeded in pushing back pollution controls at its Ravena plant by over a year in exchange for interim limits and an investment in air pollution projects in the local community. It's not a fine but the announcement follows other pollution-related payments at cement plants run by Holcim and Ash Grove. Let's hope that any new plants in Sri Lanka avoid these kind of payments.
Arif Habib leaves Thatta board
17 July 2013Pakistan: Muhammad Arif Habib has resigned as director from the board of directors of Thatta Cement with immediate effect. Habib bought Thatta Cement with Al-Abbas Group in 2004 when the cement producer was privatised. The company has since become part of Arif Habib Group.
Thatta Cement signs lease for Sri Lankan grinder
10 April 2013Sri Lanka: Pakistan's Thatta Cement is proceeding towards the construction of a US$15m grinding plant in Sri Lanka after signing a 25-year lease agreement with the island's port agency in the week ending 5 April 2013.
The plant, with a capacity of 0.3Mt/yr, will be located at the Hambantota port in the southern Sri Lankan region of Hambantota District. It is expected to grind 0.1Mt of cement in the first year, catering to the domestic market. It will gradually increase its output to 0.3Mt/yr. A second stage expansion is expected to take capacity up to 1Mt/yr.
"The team at Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) were all supportive," said Thatta's chief financial officer, Muhamad Taha Hamdani. "At the last meeting with SLPA chairman, he was very supportive. There was a certain issue (but this) was solved within 15 to 20 minutes."
Thatta Cement chief executive Fazlullah Shariff said the firm had been exporting more than 0.1Mt/yr of cement to Sri Lanka since 2011 and that the firm had acceptance among constructors in the country. He said the grinding plant would not be limited to clinker from Pakistan but would also accept clinker from other countries depending on the international movement of prices.
Pakistan sees improvement in first half of fiscal year
22 February 2012Pakistan: Many Pakistani cement manufacturers have posted robust earnings during the first half of the 2012 financial year, which ended on 31 December 2011. Across the six major producers, representing 68% of the market, the overall profitability of the sector grew by a factor of 2.2 over the same period of 2010. Overall net sales of the sector grew by 32% to US$418m.
Separately most Pakistani cement producers posted profits for the six month period. DG Khan and Lucky Cement, which between them contribute around 25-28% of total cement sales, posted robust earnings per share growth. On the other hand, Fauji and Thatta Cement, despite better overall margins, posted losses. Fauji Cement posted losses due to lower utilisation of its new 2.1Mt/yr plant due to power outages and lower demand, while Thatta cement remained in the red due to extremely low sales, which were approximately 20% of those expected.