Displaying items by tag: India
India: UltraTech Cement plans to buy Jaiprakash Associates' Bhilai plant for US$330 – 345m. The plant has US$87.5m of debt.
India: JK Lakshmi Cement has reported an 88.6% fall in its net profit to US$0.95m for the quarter that ended on 31 March 2015. Total income fell by 11.4% year-on-year to US$93.8m for quarter.
For the year that ended on 31 March 2015, JK Lakshmi Cement posted a 2.8% rise in its net profit to US$15m. Its total income surged by 11.2% to US$367m for the year and its net profit after tax grew by 9.65% year-on-year to US$16.2m.
India: Orient Cement, a C K Birla Group company, has reported revenues of US$243m in its 2015 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2015. It also expects the demand cycle in the Indian cement industry to pick up within a couple of quarters and is ready to take up the opportunity with inorganic growth.
Orient Cement CEO Deepak Khetrapal said that the country is witnessing policy tweaking on the infrastructure front. "We can see that the GDP growth will happen on massive investment in infrastructure and this will pick up demand for cement in the country," said Khetrapal.
Orient Cement reported 225% growth in its fourth quarter 2015 net profit to US$13.4m. Its revenue, however, declined marginally to US$61.9m from US$63m in the same quarter of 2014. Orient Cement's revenue grew by 8% for the whole of its 2015 financial year, while its net profit was up by 93% to US$30.5m.
Orient Cement has already set a target of achieving 15Mt/yr production capacity by the end of 2020. "We are exploring all avenues to grow inorganically. We have already started investments in a greenfield project in Rajasthan. Also, we are looking at acquiring a few production plants with 2Mt/yr and 3Mt/yr production capacities in eastern India," said Khetrapal.
Orient Cement has invested US$236m at its soon-to-be-commissioned Kallaburgi plant to achieve 3Mt/yr of installed capacity. "We will make additional investments of US$78.6m by the end of the 2016 fiscal year. We have got all of the clearances for the project and the state government nod for limestone mining is expected within 8 - 10 weeks," said Khetrapal.
India: Saurashtra Cement's net profit rose by 107% to US$6m in the fourth quarter of 2015, which ended on 31 March 2015, compared to US$2.89m during the prior year quarter. Sales declined by 21.6% to US$21.6m in the fourth quarter compared to US$27.5m during the 2014 fourth quarter.
For the full 2015 financial year that ended on 31 March 2015, Saurashtra Cement's net profit rose by 227% to US$10.6m compared to US$3.25m during its 2014 financial year. Sales rose by 6.04% to US$87.8m during the year.
India: Prism Cement's net profit rose by 463% to US$9.73m in the fourth quarter of its 2015 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2015, compared to US$1.73m during the prior year quarter. Sales rose by 0.55% to US$240m in the fourth quarter of the 2015 fiscal year compared to US$239m in the same quarter a year earlier.
For the full year that ended on 31 March 2015, Prism Cement's net profit was US$2.31m compared to a net loss of US$12.9m during the full 2014 financial year. Sales rose by 12.7% year-on-year to US$877m in the 2015 financial year.
UltraTech plans to take over Century Cement
08 May 2015India: Aditya Birla Group´s UltraTech Cement plans to merge the cement division of BK Birla-owned Century Textiles and Industries, Century Cement, in a share-swap proposal with a deal value of US$1.64bn. The transaction, if approved by the boards of both companies, would help UltraTech add 13Mt/yr to its existing capacity of 65Mt/yr, taking it to the total of 78Mt/yr.
India: The Meghalaya High Court has approved the de-merger plans between Star Ferro and Cement Ltd (SFCL), Shyam Century Ferrous Ltd and their respective shareholders. The company's board had approved a de-merger scheme in 2014 under which a new company, Shyam Century Ferrous Ltd, was formed to separate the company's ferro alloy division as part of an overall business reorganisation plan.
India: Birla Corporation has reported a 9% growth in its standalone net profit at US$4.45m for the quarter that ended on 31 March 2015. Its total standalone income rose marginally to US$125m in the quarter of the last fiscal from US$124m in the prior year period. During the fourth quarter of its 2015 financial year, cement production declined by 2.7% year-on-year to 1.87Mt. Cement dispatches also fell by 1.31% to 1.88Mt during the period.
During the 2014 - 2015 financial year, cement production was up by 3.77% year-on-year to 7.62Mt, while cement dispatches rose by 4.42% to 7.67Mt. Birla Corp's consolidated net profit during the year rose by 35% year-on-year to US$27.4m from US$20.3m in the same period of the previous year. Revenue grew by 6% year-on-year to US$502m.
"Barring the first quarter of the current financial year, cement demand and prices remained sluggish. East, North and Central markets, in particular, were the worst hit," said Birla Corp. Weak monsoon and widespread unseasonal rain during the last quarter of the year in the North and Central parts of the country reduced cement demand.
The performance of the company was 'severely impacted' due to coal shortages. According to Birla Corp, it had to procure coal from the open market, including imports, at a substantially higher cost. "The grid power rates have gone up. Also, the cost of power generation by the company increased due to the purchase of coal from the open market. Though road freight cost came down during the year on account of lower diesel prices the saving was negated by higher railway freight," it added. High limestone costs also added to the production cost.
"With the prediction of weak monsoon in the current financial year, the demand from the rural market may be impacted adversely," said Birla Corp. However, initiatives such as developing infrastructure, smart cities, 'Make in India,' concrete roads and an increase in the allocation of funds to states is likely to help improve the demand. "While signals are positive, ground-level actions will help 'rev up' the economy. It is expected that the demand - supply mismatch will reverse for the better, with a slower pace of capacity addition. Proposed implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) is expected to simplify the tax structure, benefiting the cement industry."
India: Dalmia Cement has commissioned its 7000t/day greenfield cement plant, 5000t/day clinker plant and a coal-based power plant at Yadwad, Belagavi, Karnataka. Out of the total 40MW of power production capacity, 27MW has been commissioned and the remaining capacity will be commissioned in the future.
Competition Commission of India clears Ultratech to buy two cement plants from Jaiprakash Associates
29 April 2015India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared Ultratech Cement's proposed US$853m deal to buy two cement plants from Jaiprakash Associates in Madhya Pradesh. The acquisition is for a 2.6Mt/yr cement plant in Bela, with a 25MW captive power plant, and a 2.3Mt/yr cement plant in Sidhi with a 155MW captive power plant, according to the Economic Times.
"Looking at the details of the matter, the combination would not have any adverse impact on the market," the CCI order said.
UltraTech's cement production capacity will rise to 65Mt/yr. The company has set a target to reach 71Mt/yr by 2016. Following the sale Jaiprakash Associates, also know as Jaypee Group, will remain the country's third largest cement producer with a production capacity of 22Mt/yr.