Displaying items by tag: Ramco Cements
Ramco Cements reports 274% rise in Q4 profit
02 June 2015India: Ramco Cements has reported that its quarterly profits rose by 274% to US$14.6m due to better cost management and stable cement prices. Revenues grew marginally by 1.2% to US$156m. The company sold 1.88Mt of cement during the fourth quarter of 2015, down from 2.25Mt in the same quarter of the previous financial year.
For the fiscal year that ended on 31 March 2015, Ramco Cements achieved a profit of US$37.9m, a rise of 76% and a revenue of US$584m. It sold 7.67Mt of cement compared to 8.59Mt in the previous financial year.
"Our ability to manage costs and stable cement prices helped us in better financial performance," said A V Darmakrishnan, managing director and CEO of Ramco Cements. Forecasting demand for the current fiscal year, he said, "We are cautious and will wait."
Operating costs decreased because of cost reduction initiatives and falling fuel prices. However the reduction in costs was offset by an increase in royalty on limestone from US$0.986/t to US$1.25/t with effect from 1 September 2014.
Ramco Cements installed a new 0.95Mt/yr grinding plant in Gobburpalam Village, Vishakapatnam and commissioned it in March 2015.
Lafarge’s Indian divestments receive six bids
20 May 2015India: Six foreign and domestic cement companies, along with one private equity firm, have expressed interest in buying the assets that Lafarge is divesting in India before it closes its merger with Holcim. The bids were in excess of US$627m.
The deadline for submitting non-binding bids for the assets expired on 16 May 2015. Ahead of that deadline, local media reported that bids came from Shree Cement, Chettinad Cement, HeidelbergCement India, The Ramco Cements, CRH and Blackstone Group.
As a precondition to clearing Indian leg of the LafargeHolcim, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) directed Lafarge to sell two of its assets in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. These are a cement plant at Sonadih, Chhattisgarh and a grinding plant at Jojobera, Jharkhand, with a total capacity of approximately 5Mt/yr. In its directions, the CCI said that Lafarge should sell its assets 'to relatively smaller players, having an installed capacity of less than 5% of their total capacity in the relevant geographic market.'
With the non-binding bids in, Lafarge is likely to shortlist bidders by the middle of June 2015. The deal is likely to be concluded in July 2015.
India: Ramco Cements Ltd expects to commission the US$76.9m grinding unit in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh in April 2015. The company said that, while it has witnessed increased in cement sales in Kerala and West Bengal, in other states where it has operations the demand for cement has become sluggish.
In its unaudited standalone results for the three months that ended 31 December 2014, Ramco Cements showed a decline in income from operations to US$132m as against US$141m in the corresponding quarter of 2013. Net profit for the quarter fell to US$3.72m from US$4.14min the same quarter of 2013.
In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, Ramco Cements sold 5.66Mt of cement in the domestic market, compared to 6.2Mt in the corresponding nine months in the previous year. Exports amounted to 129,000t, taking the total sales to 5.79Mt in the first nine months of the 2015 financial year.
Ramco Cements said that cement production was 8% lower and sales fell by 9% in the first nine months of the 2015 financial year compared to the corresponding period in the previous year. Sales declined in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Odisha.
India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has closed a case of alleged cartel activity among 11 cement companies due to a lack of evidence. The companies were named as Penna Cements, India Cements, Bharathi Cements, Dalmia (Bharat) Cements, Bhavya Cements, Zuari Cements, Ultratech Cements, Jaypee Cements, Ramco Cements, KCP Cements and My Home Cements.
Ramco Cement to set up new plant in Andhra Pradesh
28 August 2014India: Ramco Cement has announced that it intends to construct a cement factory at Kilimigundla in Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh at a cost of US$250m. The total investment in the cement plant and related infrastructure could go up to US$500m, as the development will require a 20km rail line to facilitate transport.
Ramco has requested that the State Chief Minister provide necessary land to develop the plant and also facilitate necessary clearances to develop the rail line, which Ramco claims would also be useful for other projects in the area.
Meanwhile, Ramco has indicated that its new plant near Visakhapatnam will also be ready for commissioning by 15 October 2014.
Ramco Cements’ net profit dips 47% on low demand
29 July 2014India: Continued slackness in domestic cement demand led to a 47% fall in Ramco Cements' net profit to US$6.04m during the second quarter of 2014, which ended on 30 June 2014, down from US$11.5m during the same quarter of 2013. Revenues fell by 2.8% to US$160m, down from US$165m in 2013.
On a consolidated basis, Ramco Cements earned a net profit of US$6.10m during the second quarter of 2014, which includes results of its subsidiary company, Ramco Windfarms, as well as its associate company, Ramco Systems.
Ramco Cements expects performance to improve in the coming months. It is establishing a cement grinding plant at Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, with a 1Mt/yr grinding capacity, at a cost of US$59.8m. The project will be completed over the next few months and will help the company to grow in the Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh State markets. Ramco Cements is also working on increasing capacity at its thermal power plants at Alathiyur Village and Ariyalur Town in Tamil Nadu State.
India: Energy management firm Schneider Electric has entered into a strategic partnership with industrial software developer Ramco Systems. The partnership will see Ramco's process optimisation software, OPTIMA, become a part of Schneider Electric's solutions for the cement industry. The partnership is intended to offer cement producers products that optimise production processes by reducing energy and emissions focusing on kiln and mill operation.
"The combined offer of process control, expert system and energy management allows the deployment of a unique optimisation strategy. This strategy will ensure optimum consumption of resources, best use of assets, maintain quality of product and stabilise processes while building an environmentally-sustainable business," said Mining, Minerals and Metals Solution President, Schneider Electric, Diego Areces.
OPTIMA is an process optimisation solution that has been designed to improve plant productivity and efficiency and leverages technologies like fuzzy logic, regression analysis and artificial intelligence techniques.
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.