Displaying items by tag: UltraTech Cement

India: UltraTech Cement, one of India's largest cement producers, made 3.33Mt of cement in February 2013. Its cement dispatches stood at 3.31Mt for the same month.

Meanwhile, Shree Cement has reported that its production stood at 98,300t for the month, while its cement dispatches stood at 96,700t. Sales were down 16% year-on-year compared to February 2012.

Elsewhere, JK Lakshmi Cement has reported that its production (including clinker) for the month of February 2013 was 44,700t, while dispatches (including clinker) for the same period stood at 44,600t.

In the north, Mangalam Cement cement production of 153,793t during February 2013, while its cement dispatch stood at 163,034t.

India: UltraTech Cement announced on 1 March 2013 that it had temporarily shut down its 3.6Mt/yr Awarpur plant in Maharashtra due to workers' unrest. UltraTech reinforced that the closure would not substantially effect the company's financial performance.

India: UltraTech Cement, a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group, has started a US$297m capacity expansion project with the help of International Finance Corporation (IFC), the multilateral lending arm of World Bank Group. About US$100m of the project comprises loans from the IFC.

The proposed project comprises a brown field expansion at UltraTech's operational integrated plant in Chhattisgarh and the investment for the necessary infrastructure to support the expansion. In a recent statement IFC said that the project is a key component of the company's cement capacity expansion strategy in the eastern part of India. Located on 389 hectares of land, existing operations were commissioned in 1995. The existing facilities and ongoing expansion include expanding the clinker capacity up to 6.5Mt/yr, the cement line up to 6.5Mt/yr and taking a coal-fired captive power plant up to 80MW.

Currently, UltraTech has 12 integrated cement manufacturing plants, 15 grinding units, five bulk terminals and more than 100 ready mix concrete plants spanning India, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka with a capacity of 52Mt/yr

India: UltraTech Cement, an Aditya Birla Group company, has reported a net profit of US$112m for the last three months of 2012, a drop of 3% compared to US$115m in the same period in 2011. The company blamed subdued demand and higher costs caused by increases in railway freight and diesel prices. Net sales for the quarter rose by 6% to US$904m from US$850m.

During the quarter, UltraTech reported that imported coal cost around US$100/t but that the benefit of this low price was partly offset by the depreciation in the Indian Rupee. New clinker plants at Chhattisgarh and Karnataka are expected to be operational by early 2013-2014 and will add 9.2Mt/yr to UltraTech's capacity. Once completed UltraTech's total capacity will reach 62Mt/yr.

In its outlook, the company said that the surplus scenario in the industry is likely to continue over the next three years. "Input costs are likely to increase in line with general inflation with margins remaining range bound,'' the company said.

Step forward UltraTech Cement into the vertical rumour mill! The Indian cement producer is the latest company reported as wanting to buy Jaypee Group's cement business in Gujarat. It follows Italcementi, Aditya Birla and CRH, who announced in October 2012 that negotiations had been 'terminated' as the parties had been unable to agree terms.

This time the asking price has risen, with Ultratech allegedly offering US$160-165/t and Jaypee holding out for US$180-185/t. Whilst UltraTech hasn't publicly confirmed the move, it pointedly hasn't denied it either. The Aditya Birla Group subsidiary only commented to the Bombay Stock Exchange that it had not issued any press releases on the subject. Aditya Birla Group itself was reported in October 2012 as pursing interest at US$130/t for Jaypee's 9.8Mt/yr operations in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Given the number of rumours and cash-rich CRH's very public failure to strike a deal it seems likely that Jaypee has a specific price in mind and it's sticking to it. Prasad Baji of Edelweiss Securities stated in a television interview with CNBC-TV18 that he thought that the cement industry cycle was starting to look up. Crucially he predicted that India's capacity utilisation was set to rise from its current level of 78% to 82% despite price declines in the current quarter.

This is in sharp contrast with Fitch Ratings which rated the Indian cement industry with a negative outlook at the start of 2012 and reports in late May 2012 that capacity ultilisation had actually fallen from 76% to 71%. Since then ICRA Research reported in late September 2012 that it expected Indian capacity ultilisation to stick to 76% for 2012 with prices showing 'resistance' in some regions to cost increases due to rising input costs.

With all this in mind it seems likely that UltraTech will join the growing list of Jaypee's spurned buyers when it fails to reach terms or when the rumours simply fizzle out. However if UltraTech does strike a deal the Indian industry will be the one to watch in 2013. According to data in the Global Cement Directory 2013, an acquisition of nearly 10Mt/yr production capacity would boost UltraTech's capacity to 62Mt/yr making it the 12th largest cement company in the world.

India: UltraTech Cement has reported to the Bombay Stock Exchange that it has not issued any press releases concerning rumours in the Indian press that it is in talks to buy Jaypee Group's cement business in Gujarat. It added that the company does not comment on market speculation. Jaypee has not commented.

Indian press reported that UltraTech is planning to buy Jaypee Group's cement business in Ahmedabad for US$700- 890m by the end of 2012. UltraTech is allegedly 'keen' to buy Jaypee's 4.8Mt/yr Gujarat capacity at US$160- 165/t. Jaypee want to sell it at US$180-185/t.

Jaypee Group is the India's third largest cement maker with an installed capacity of 33.5Mt/yr. Jaiprakash Associates, the flagship company of the group, holds the majority of the cement business. However, operations in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, which have a total capacity of 9.8Mt/yr, are run by Jaypee Cement, which was hived off six months ago for monetising the asset. UltraTech Cement is a part of the US$24.5bn diversified Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Group. The company, along with its subsidiaries, has a cement production capacity of 52Mt/yr.

India: UltraTech Cement, an Aditya Birla Group company, has posted a 97% rise in net profit to US$102.5m in the second quarter of the 2012 fiscal year from US$51.9m in 2011 after it recorded a strong pick-up in demand for cement.

Quarterly net sales stood at US$875m compared year-on-year to US$728m, a rise of 20%. However, variable costs rose by 8% in the quarter ending 30 September 2012. "This was mainly on account of higher raw material prices, which are linked to the last increase in railway freight and increase in diesel prices," said UltraTech in a press release.

The company's initiative towards setting up additional clinkerisation plants at Chhattisgarh and Karnataka are expected to be operational from early 2013-14. The company's cement capacity will be enhanced by 10.2Mt/yr.

India: Cement producers have suggested that the industry will be unable to 'absorb' increased freight charges caused by a rise in the price of diesel.

Following a US$0.10/l increase in the price of diesel, the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) increased freight charges across the country by 15%. The truck drivers' organisation claims to have around 8 million vehicles under its control.

"The increased freight charge is not going only to impact on the distribution of finished goods. Generally, it takes 2t of inputs to produce 1t of cement. So, the impact will be on a total of 3t freight. I don't think the industry is now in a position to absorb this," said, JK Lakshmi Cement whole-time director , Shailendra Chouksey.

Commenting on the impact of the rise in diesel prices, a major cement producer, which preferred not to be quoted, said the rise was high and that this would certainly push up the distribution cost for producers.

Currently, the Indian cement industry faces over-capacity with a utilisation of 76% of the total capacity of 330Mt/yr. According to UltraTech in its annual report the situation is unlikely to improve before 2015.

India: UltraTech, India's leading cement producer, is planning a 19% increase in capacity to 62Mt/yr by April 2013 from its current output of 52Mt/yr. Company chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, who made the announcement, added that the outlook for the sector remained challenging.

"I believe the short-term prospects for the industry appear bearish. Regardless, over the medium to long term, the sector offers good growth potential," said Birla in a statement released after the company's annual shareholder meeting. "Undoubtedly, we are facing some tough challenges today."

Rising input and energy costs have limited margins at cement companies, while demand remains a worry amid a weakening economy and high interest rates which have slowed housing and infrastructure development in Asia's third-largest economy. Producers have also come under pressure after the country's anti-trust watchdog fined 11 companies, including UltraTech, saying they colluded to under-use their plants and create an artificial shortage of cement.

UltraTech has been in talks to buy one of two cement plants put up for sale by debt-laden Jaiprakash Associates, in western and southern India. The company reported a 14% increase year-on-year in net profit for the quarter ending in June 2012 to US$129m.

India: Coal India Ltd (CIL) has threatened to cut coal supplies and break long-term linkages with four of UltraTech Cement's captive power plants in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh due to non-completion of the units.

Maharatna CIL has threatened to break long-term linkages and cut coal supplies for 16 captive power plants, including four of UltraTech Cement's captive power plants. When the Indian state-owned CIL signs long-term linkages with a proposed plant, deadlines for the different stages of completion of a plant and the date of commissioning are agreed. All of these plants were incomplete when the Standing Linkage Committee reviewed their implementation status.

"If the captive plants are found to be commissioned with all the milestones achieved, the Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) may be concluded with them within three months from the date of issuance this notice. Otherwise, linkages may be cancelled," said CIL.