Displaying items by tag: Birla

India: Birla Corporation has overcome sand supply issues to see its sales and cement volumes rise in its financial year to the end of March 2018. The group overcame a restriction on sand mining in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the first nine months of the year, according to the United News of India. Its sales revenue grew by 19% year-on-year to US$878m from US$736m. Its cement sales volumes rose by 23% to 12.4Mt from 10Mt. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 14% to US$128m from US$113m.

India: M P Birla Cement has launched its new so-called premium brand ‘Perfect Plus’ from its Maihar plant in Madhya Pradesh and its Chanderia plant in Rajasthan. The product uses deflocculated fine particles of cement to form a Calcium-Silicate-Hydrate (C-S-H) gel that improves the quality of the concrete made from it. Reported advantages for concrete made from the product include high early strength, reduce permeability and better water demand to reduce voids and increase strength.

India: Birla Corporation plans to launch its Perfect cement product across most of the country, except in the south. The brand was purchased by the cement producer in August 2016 when it acquired Reliance Cement, according to the Business Standard newspaper. The product launch is Birla’s first national rollout. Perfect brand cement is produced at the former Reliance Maihar plant in Madhya Pradesh. The cement producer is also planning to introduce a new variant of its Unique brand of premium cement, which will be sold in the northern region. This brand of slag cement is limited to its eastern market and is currently manufactured from the Durgapur plant in West Bengal.

India: Birla Corporation has declared its results for the quarter and nine months that ended on 31 December 2017. The consolidated results include the financials of Reliance Cement Company Private Limited (RCCPL), a wholly-owned material subsidiary of the Company.

The corporation made 3.06Mt in the third quarter, a 22% rise compared to the same period of 2016-2017. In the nine months to 31 December 2017 it produced 9.1Mt of cement, a 11.9% increase year-on-year. It despatched 3.04Mt of cement compared to 2.49Mt in the quarter and 8.98Mt in the nine month period, a 12% rise year-on-year.

In financial terms it took in US$215m in gross sales during the quarter, a 12.7% rise year-on-year. In the nine month period it took in US$667m, a 27.8% rise. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the three months were US$23.6m and for the nine months they were US$93.0m.

India: Birla Corporation’s net profit has fallen by 72% year-on-year to US$6.8m in the first half of its financial year to the end of September 2017 from US$24.4m in the same period in 2016. However, its sales revenue grew steeply by 37% to US$444m from US$325m. Sales volumes grew by 39% to 5.9Mt from 4.3Mt.

The cement producer said that despite ‘challenging’ markets it had increased its sales volumes and benefitted from synergies following its acquisition of Reliance Cement in mid-2016. It added that demand and prices were ‘seriously’ impacted in central India by a prolonged shortage of sand and aggregates, especially in Uttar Pradesh, which constitutes around 35% of the company’s sales. Prices were also down in the northern states of Rajasthan, Haryana and the National Capital Region due to poor demand.

India: Birla Corporation is considering a US$375m investment in a greenfield cement plant at Mukutban, Maharashtra. Harsh V Lodha, the group’s chairman, stated that the decision would be put before the board for approval.

Speaking about the company’s recent acquisition of Reliance Cement, Lodha added, “Reliance’s plants did not have a captive power plant, so we are in the process of setting up a waste heat recovery system at a cost of US$19.5m.” The company is also studying the feasibility of a captive thermal power plant there. Lodha also said that demand for cement is rising in Central India and no new capacity was coming up in the region, which he said bodes well for the company’s new assets.

India: Birla Corporation has proposed building a US$375m cement plant at Mukutbandh near Nagpur in Maharashtra. Company chairman made the announcement following the company’s annual general meeting, according to the Press Trust of India. The proposal will now go to the company’s board for approval. The plant will have a production capacity of 4Mt/yr. It will be financed from a mixture of debt and internal funds.

India: Birla Corporation has blamed demonetisation for falling cement sales in the quarter to 31 December 2016. The Indian cement producer reported that the revenue from its cement business declined by 3% to US$113m in the quarter to 31 December 2016 from US$117m in the same period in 2015. It blamed this on currency shortages negatively affecting rural construction and a localised embargo on sand and aggregate mining, according to the Economic Times newspaper. For the nine months to 31 December 2016 it said that its income had risen slightly year-on-year to US$415m from US$412m in the same period in 2015. Its net profit more than doubled to US$23m from US$9.3m.

India: Birla Corporation’s sales revenue has risen by 6.2% to US$280m in the first half of its financial year, which ended on 30 September 2016, from US$263m in the same period of 2015. Its net profit more than tripled to US$22.3m from US$7.04m. Sales from its cement division rose by 5.6% to US$256m from US$242m. No comment on the results was given but in August 2016 Birla completed its acquisition of Reliance Infrastructure for US$702m.

India: Reliance Infrastructure has completed the sale of its 100% shareholding in Reliance Cement to Birla Corporation, part of MP Birla Group. The US$715m deal, valued at US$140/t of cement production capacity, was announced in February 2016. The transaction has now completed following the transfer of shares and receipt of sale consideration. Proceeds of the sale will be used by Reliance Infrastructure to pay off its debts.