Displaying items by tag: India Cements
India Cements returns to profit
13 November 2014India: The India Cements Ltd (ICL) has returned to black in the second quarter of its 2015 financial year, which ended 30 September 2014, after reporting loss for four quarters in a row. It has reported profit for the quarter despite a drop in volume and rising cost pressures.
The India Cements reported a net profit before tax of US$1.22m for the second quarter of the 2015 financial year, compared to a loss of US$5.11m in the previous year. Sales volumes were down by 3% to 2.35Mt against 2.44Mt in the prior year. Net sales were higher at US$184m during the quarter, compared to US$176m in the previous year.
T S Raghupathy, special adviser to The India Cements, said that the Indian cement industry reported a 9% in the first half of the 2015 financial year. However, growth in the south was the weakest among the regions. Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the principal markets for India Cements, virtually saw de-growth, he added.
The India Cements to demerge Chennai Super Kings into a separate company
25 September 2014India: The India Cements Ltd (ICL) has decided to hive off Chennai Super Kings (CSK), a cricket team owned by it and run as a division of the company, into a wholly-owned subsidiary. Chennai Super Kings is a BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and IPL (Indian Premier League) Franchise Twenty20 Cricket Tournament Team.
"We propose to de-merge CSK division into a wholly-owned subsidiary of our company,'' said ICL. The de-merger proposal will be taken up for the consideration of the board at its ensuing meeting. CSK has given ICL a new brand image and a pan-India corporate identity.
The iconic stature of M S Dhoni, the skipper of CSK, has helped the company in its forays into news markets such as Rajasthan and Gujarat. Thanks to CSK, ICL has become a household name in India.
India: As a result of poor demand and unremunerative prices, several cement companies in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana have shut down plants or are running them on a campaign basis. Andhra Pradesh and Telengana have nearly 25% of India's limestone reserves.
"Demand continues to be weak, but prices have started to improve now as manufacturers have decided not to sell below cost," said one unnamed cement producer. "Several plants in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana have shut down or are in the process of a sale."
Among the plants that have shut down their operations temporarily is the Panyam Cements' 0.4Mt/yr capacity cement plant in Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh. "We had shut our plant due to internal financial issues, but that has been sorted out and the plant restarted 10 days ago," said a Panyam spokesperson. Bheema Coromandel, which has a 1.2Mt/yr plant near Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh is only running its plant for 'token' production, according to local sources.
"There is practically no demand in South India," said N Srinivasan, vice chairman and managing director of India Cements. "The negative growth in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana has continued for far too long." India Cements has reported a US$493,340 net loss for the quarter that ended on 30 June 2014.
Cement production capacity in the south of India is around 110Mt/yr, while demand is only 70Mt/yr. Consequently, existing cement makers have trimmed their capacity utilisation to around 65% and are holding on to prices to ensure there are no losses.
"There are expectations of improvements in the sentiment with the new Union Budget proposals for reviving growth, stepping up investments in infrastructure and housing," said Srinivasan. "The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh has also raised hopes for renewed economic activity under the new governments in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana."
India: India Cements plans to revamp and increase the production capacity of its cement plant in Tamil Nadu with an investment of US$13.3m.
The cement plant will be upgraded, including a new line and optimisation of the existing kiln, increasing capacity to about 1.70Mt/yr from the present 0.6Mt/yr. India Cements is currently seeking environmental clearance and, once this is in place, the project will commence. The total power requirement for the increased capacity will be about 28MW, including about 13MW for the new line.
CCI imposes US$66.2m penalty on Shree Cement
19 June 2014India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed the penalty on Shree Cement while issuing the final order in a case against cement manufacturers and their trade body, the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA).
"The Commission has imposed a penalty on Shree Cement Ltd at the rate of half of its profits for the years 2009 - 2010 and 2010 – 2011, aggregating to US$66.2m," said the CCI. The CCI added that it had, "Found 11 cement manufacturers, including Shree Cement and the CMA, in contravention of the provisions of the Competition Act 2002, which deal with anti-competitive agreements, including cartels." It asked Shree Cement to refrain from such anti-competitive activities in the future.
With regard to the other companies, the CCI said that as they were fined earlier, it was not imposing any penalty on them again for the same period of contravention. In June 2012 the CCI imposed a US$1.05bn fine on 11 leading cement makers, including ACC, Ambuja Cements, UltraTech, India Cements, Binani Cement, JK Cement, Madras Cement, Lafarge and Jaypee Cement. The industry body CMA was also fined US$121,717.
India: India Cements plans to merge with its subsidiary, Trinetra Cements. N Srinivasan, vice-chairman and managing director of India Cements, said that the company wanted to consolidate cement operations. The merger will also include Trishul Concrete Products and involve selling land near its plants in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
"We will get the benefit of profitability of Trinetra and improve the performance of India Cements," said Srinivasan. He adding that, following the merger, the total cement production capacity of India Cements would rise to 15.8Mt/yr.
For its first quarterly results in 2014 India Cements reported a net loss of US$5.19m. The company has also been under a corporate debt-restructuring scheme since January 2003, which ended in March 2014 with a US$9.69m charge. India Cements has a production capacity of 15.5Mt/yr. It has seven integrated cement plants in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, one in Rajasthan (through Trinetra Cements) and two grinding units, one each in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
India Cements slips into the red
27 May 2014India: India Cements has incurred a net loss of US$5.19m for the quarter that ended in March 2014, driven by capacity overhang and weak demand. The company had earned a net profit of US$6.86m in the same period of 2013.
Net sales fell to US$183m from US$202m during the same period of 2013, while expenses dipped marginally to US$183m."Oversupply pressure continues, coupled with poor demand in south India," said India Cement's managing director N Srinivasan. Cement demand in south India was flat during the period. Consequently the company ran its southern cement plants at 70% of their rated capacity. Its Rajasthan plant produced cement at 98% of its rated capacity.
The company has been under a corporate debt-restructuring (CDR) scheme since January 2003, which ended in March 2014 with a US$9.69m charge. India Cements also incurred a US$7.97m loss due to foreign exchange fluctuations.
"With a new government in place we expect a turnaround in demand in the second half of this fiscal year," Srinivasan said.
Two subsidiaries to merge with India Cements
27 February 2014India: Trinetra Cement and Trishul Concrete Products Ltd, both of which are subsidiaries of India Cements Ltd (ICL), will be merged with ICL. The board of ICL met on 26 February 2014 and approved the amalgamation of the two subsidiaries with itself. The amalgamation is subject to regulatory and other approvals.
ICL holds a 61.22% stake in Trinetra, which has a paid-up capital of US$721,000 through its fully-owned subsidiary, ICL Financial Services Ltd. ICL has an 88.4% stake in Trishul Concrete, which has a paid-up capital of US$352,000 through its wholly-owned subsidiaries.
Under the scheme of amalgamation, the appointed date for the merger is 1 January 2014.
Southern Indian cement producers start exports to Myanmar
05 February 2014India: Producers in the south of India have started exporting cement to Myanmar in response to depressed market conditions locally. Chettinad Cements, the India Cements, Dalmia Cements and Ramco Cements have all started shipping cement to Myanmar in the past few months, according to local media.
"We started shipments in January 2014 to Myanmar of about 10,000 - 12,000t. It is not very remunerative, but when the chips are down, we have do something to stay afloat," said Vipin Agarwal, CEO-south, Dalmia Cements. He added that producers make 'token' profits from this market but hope it will become profitable in the future. Dalmia transports its cement from Dalmiapuram in central Tamil Nadu to Tuticorin port for subsequent export. Ramco Cements also starting trialling cement exports to Myanmar in mid-2013, having shipped around 40,000t so far.
Agarwal said that demand in south India has continued to fall with growth in Karnataka, no change in Kerala and decreases in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Cement producers in the region are operating at 55% of their rated cement production capacities. Myanmar is the second export market that cement producers are testing, after Sri Lanka.
The India Cements (ICL) slips into red
08 November 2013India: Continued oversupply coupled with low prices pushed The India Cements Ltd (ICL) into the red in the second quarter of 2013. The South India-based cement company said that it had incurred a net loss of US$3.6m for the quarter ending 30 September 2013, compared with a net profit of US$7.8m during the same quarter in 2012. Weak demand for cement resulted in mounting pressure on cement selling prices.