Displaying items by tag: Ambuja
Ambuja Cement’s sales suffer from demonetisation in 2016
21 February 2017India: Ambuja Cement’s standalone net sales fell by 2% year-on-year to US$1.37bn in 2016 from US$1.4bn in 2015. Its sales volumes of cement fell by 2% to 21.1Mt from 21.5Mt. However, its operating earnings before interest taxation, amortisation and depreciation (EBITDA) rose by 10% to US$251m from US$229m. It blamed the loss in sales on the government’s demonetisation policy and bad weather. Despite sales growth in the first half of the year, its sales volumes in the fourth quarter fell by 9% due to cash shortages.
“Our rapid adoption of cashless payment methods in the December 2016 quarter helped Ambuja to deliver a strong performance in 2016. In 2017 we are well placed to be part of the infrastructure development panned by the government and the new thrust on affordable hosing projects,” said Ajay Kapur, chief executive officer of Ambuja Cement.
The cement producer also reported that its operating costs fell in 2016 due to a reduction in energy costs, mainly due to an increased use of petcoke, higher usage of alternative fuels and general efficiency improvements.
India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found seven cement companies guilty of bid rigging and cartelisation and imposed a total fine of nearly US$30m on them. The accused companies are Shree Cement, UltraTech Cement, Jaiprakash Associates, JK Cement, Ambuja Cements, ACC and JK Lakshmi Cement, according to the Times of India. The fines are based on 0.3% of each company’s average turnover for three financial years. Each company has also been ordered to cease and desist such behaviour.
The ruling relates to a tender floated by a Haryana state procurement agency in 2012 that the CCI started investigating in 2014. Evidence cited in the CCI’s order includes text messages and phone calls made between officials of the companies.
UltraTech Cement and Shree Cement have issued statements saying that they will appeal against the fine.
India: Ambuja Cement has launched a ‘Go Cashless’ campaign encouraging its business partners – retailers, contractors and masons - to adapt to cashless business transactions. The campaign follows the country’s decision to remove circulation of certain high denomination bank notes in November 2016. The campaign went live on 7 December 2016 and it is aimed to create awareness on various available cashless options amongst the cement producer’s business partners. Ambuja Cement is also working with ICICI Bank to launch a helpline to assist stakeholders open current accounts for regular business transactions.
“The ‘Go Cashless’ campaign is yet another endeavour empowering the construction community through knowledge transfer. We are successfully seeding innovative thinking at the grass-roots level and bringing information and technology to the forefront of all our esteemed business partners,’’ said Ambuja Cement’s managing director and chief executive .
The campaign has included sending out over 1,000,000 text messages, 200,000 Whatsapp messages and an educational radio campaign across 17 different stations in New Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal. Ambuja Cement estimates that it has contacted 42,000 business partners via media channels and over 4.5 million via radio.
Workers at LafargeHolcim highlight human rights’ violations
07 December 2016World: Workers at LafargeHolcim are holding a ‘global day of action’ in advance of International Human Rights Day on 10 December 2016 to draw attention to the world’s largest cement maker’s alleged widespread violations of workers’ rights, according to the IndustriAll Global Union federation. Workers in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas will ‘mobilise, take actions and demand’ that LafargeHolcim respect workers’ rights.
The union action intends to highlight alleged worker rights violations including an increase in workplace fatalities in 2015, an increasing use of precarious employment, illegal replacement of striking workers in Canada, use of child labour and targeting of union members for dismissal in Uganda, unfair treatment of displaced families due to the development of a plant in Ambuja in India and a ‘poor’ response to workplace accidents in Indonesia.
Unions in the federation are demanding that LafargeHolcim use less precarious work, cooperate better with trade unions on health and safety and restructuring, and enter into ‘meaningful’ negotiations with them about the future of labour relations and social dialogue.
“We expect that the world number one in the cement sector is not only number one in figures and cement sales, but also in labour standards and workers’ rights,” said general secretary of the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) Sam Hägglund.
LafargeHolcim increases stake in Ambuja Cement and ACC
16 November 2016India: LafargeHolcim has increased its shareholding in Ambuja Cement and ACC via its subsidiary Holderind Investments. It now owns 63% of Ambuja Cement’s shares and 4.5% of ACC’s shares. The group will pay for the additional stakes in Indian Rupees. The impact on LafargeHolcim’s net debt will be Euro302m. It described India as one of LafargeHolcim’s key markets with solid long-term fundamentals and a clear potential for further improvement in business performance.
Ambuja Cement presents mixed results so far in 2016
04 November 2016India: Ambuja Cement’s sales volumes have risen slightly to 16.1Mt in the first nine months of 2016. Its net sales fell slightly to US$1.04bn and its net profit after tax rose by 41% year-on-year to US$147m. The cement producer said that sales volumes fell due to poor demand but profits have risen due to increased prices.
Ambuja Cement profit rises by 29% to US$105m
27 July 2016India: Ambuja Cement’s net profit has risen by 29% year-on-year to US$105m in the first six months of 2015 from US$81m in the same period in 2015. Its sales revenue rose slightly to US$745m. Cement sales volumes fell by 2% in the second quarter of 2016 to 5.76Mt from 5.88Mt in the same period in 2015. This reduced the net sales revenue reported in the quarter despite increased prices.
The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim also reported that its energy cost fell by 27% in the second quarter of 2016 due to low fuel prices and an increased usage of petcoke in its kilns, to 60% from 45% year-on-year. Various cost optimisation initiatives also contributed to reduced freight costs.
India: LafargeHolcim has received the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to simplify its corporate structure. The transaction has already been approved by all other stakeholders, including independent directors, minority shareholders, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, stock exchanges and respective High Courts in India. LafargeHolcim is now awaiting formal communication from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board in order to close the transaction.
Through intragroup restructuring, LafargeHolcim will increase its shareholding in Ambuja to 61.14%. Ambuja, in turn, will acquire LafargeHolcim’s 50.05% stake in ACC Limited.
The transaction will be effected through a merger of Holcim India Private Ltd. (HIPL), a wholly owned financial holding subsidiary, with Ambuja. In a two-stage deal, Ambuja will first acquire, through a purchase, a 24% stake in HIPL for a cash consideration of US$521m, followed by a stock merger between HIPL and Ambuja. As part of the merger, LafargeHolcim will receive 584 million new equity shares of Ambuja resulting in an increase of its ownership in Ambuja from the current 50.28% to 61.14%.
India: Ambuja Cement has completed a 0.9Mt/yr capacity upgrade at its Sankrail grinding plant in West Bengal. The US$50m upgrade was commissioned on 24 May 2016. The cement grinding plant has increased its production capacity to 2.4Mt/yr from 1.5Mt/yr. The upgrade was originally announced in late 2012.
India: Two cement plants in Himachal Pradesh have been accused of evading goods tax worth US$9m, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said. The Ambuja integrated cement plant at Darlaghat and the JP Cement Himachal grinding plant at Bagha allegedly avoided the tax.
The companies transported 1.7Mt of limestone and 0.21Mt of shale from their quarries between April 2012 and March 2014. Ambuja Cement and JP Cement were liable to pay US$5.1m and US$3.9m respectively. The CAG only became aware of the shortfall in December 2015.