India: UltraTech Cement has reported that its profit after tax for the year ending 31 March 2013 rose by 8.5% to US$489m from US$450m. Net sales rose by 10% to US$3.69bn from US$3.34bn.

Although the Aditya Birla subsidiary offered no explanation for its performance it did state in its financial results that the year had seen continuing pressure on input and logistics costs from increases in railway freight and diesel prices, although the price of imported coal had declined. Combined cement and clinker sales of grey cement remained flat at 40.7Mt.

For the fourth quarter of the 2012 -2013 year, UltraTech reported that its profit after tax fell by 16.3% year-on-year to US$134m from US$160m. Net sales remained flat at US$991m.

With the commissioning of new projects in 2012 -2013, the cement producer's production capacity has increased by 4% to 50.9Mt/yr from 48.8Mt/yr. In its report UltraTech mentioned projects it had initiated during the year including a 3.3Mt/yr clinker plant at Rawan in Chhattisgarh, a 1.55Mt/yr grinding unit at Hotgi in Maharashtra and a cement production capacity increase of 0.60Mt/yr at a plant in Gujarat.

Future projects include a 3.3Mt/yr clinker plant in Karnataka that is expected to start operation in the first quarter of the 2014 - 2015 financial year. A 2.9Mt/yr capacity expansion at Aditya Cement Works in Rajasthan, costing US$368m, is expected to be commissioned by March 2015.

In its outlook UltraTech predicted that long-term cement demand is likely to grow by over 8% in line with GDP growth, driven by housing demand and infrastructure development.