Displaying items by tag: ACC

India: ACC has said that its new cement grinding plant at Sindri, Jharkhand will become operational in November 2016. This follows the start of commercial production of a new clinker production line at its plant at Jamul, Chhattisgarh in July 2016 and the start of that site’s grinding plant on 14 September 2016.

India: ACC plans to expand its plants at Jamul in Chhattisgarh and Sindri in Jharkhand as part of a US$447m capital project intended to increase the company's production capacity by 5Mt/yr to 35Mt/yr. The project will also include building a ‘couple of new plants’ according to comments made by KN Rao, Director - Energy and Environment, to the Hindu newspaper. Following the upgrades the Jmaul cement plant will have a clinker capacity of 2.79Mt/yr and a cement grinding capacity of 1.1Mt/yr. The Sindri unit will have a grinding capacity of 1.35Mt/yr.

India: ACC’s net profit after tax has risen by 26% year-on-year to US$69.3m in the first half of 2016 from US$55.1m in the same period in 2015. The cement producer’s sales revenue fell slightly to US$863m and its cement sales volumes rose by 3.8% to 12.48Mt from 12.02Mt. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim reported that it made an overall cost reduction of 9% in the second quarter of 2016 by optimising its fuel mix through higher rates of petcoke, by lowering costs of input materials such as slag, fly ash and gypsum and by improving its gypsum-mix optimisation.

India: LafargeHolcim has received the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to simplify its corporate structure. The transaction has already been approved by all other stakeholders, including independent directors, minority shareholders, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, stock exchanges and respective High Courts in India. LafargeHolcim is now awaiting formal communication from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board in order to close the transaction.

Through intragroup restructuring, LafargeHolcim will increase its shareholding in Ambuja to 61.14%. Ambuja, in turn, will acquire LafargeHolcim’s 50.05% stake in ACC Limited.

The transaction will be effected through a merger of Holcim India Private Ltd. (HIPL), a wholly owned financial holding subsidiary, with Ambuja. In a two-stage deal, Ambuja will first acquire, through a purchase, a 24% stake in HIPL for a cash consideration of US$521m, followed by a stock merger between HIPL and Ambuja. As part of the merger, LafargeHolcim will receive 584 million new equity shares of Ambuja resulting in an increase of its ownership in Ambuja from the current 50.28% to 61.14%.

India: ACC has started commercial production at its 2.79Mt/yr integrated cement plant at Jamul, Chhattisgarh. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim also has two new cement grinding plants, one at Jamul and one at Sindri in Jharkhand. These are expected to be commissioned by the end of September 2016. The projects are planned to strengthen the cement producer’s consumer base in east India.

India: Four contract workers have been injured by an explosion at an ACC cement plant in Sindri, Jharkhand. Sindri deputy superintendent of police Vikash Kumar Pandey told the Hindustan Times that a cylinder in the fine coal crusher plant exploded, probably due to extra pressure generated by the hot air generator attached to the crusher. The injured workers have been taken to Bokaro General Hospital where their conditions are said to be critical. ACC has stopped production at the plant to conduct a internal inquiry into the incident.

India: Beumer Group has supplied a HGBW-HC 1250 x 175.3m belt bucket elevator to the ACC cement plant in Wadi. Beumer says it is the highest such bucket elevator in the world with a distance of 175.3m between the centres. The size of this system enables a flow rate of around 600t/hour to be achieved, supported by high-strength steel wire belts. Previously Beumer has supplied bucket elevators with a height of 174m and 171m to ACC.

India: ACC Ltd has reported a 69% drop in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ending 31 December 2015, on account of lower income from avenues other than its core business.

The consolidated net profit was US$14.9m compared to U$47.8m in 2014. Net sales rose by 3% to US$417.3m from US$404m in 2014. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 9% to US$41.0m from US$37.7m in 2014.

India: The Competition Appellate Tribunal has set aside a US$945m penalty imposed on 11 cement firms by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on accusations of cartel behaviour and asked the fair trade regulator to resubmit the case. The Tribunal also allowed the cement manufacturers to withdraw the 10% penalty amount already deposited with the CCI, according to the Press Trust of India.

The judgement follows appeals filed by the cement firms and their industry body, the Cement Manufacturers Association, against the two CCI orders passed in June - July 2012. The cement companies included ACC, Ambuja Cements, Binani Cements, Century Textiles Ltd, India Cements, JK Cements, Lafarge India, Madras Cements, Ultratech, JP Associates and Shree Cements.

The CCI had passed the orders after an investigation into complaints, including from Builders Association of India (BAI), against alleged price collaboration between cement firms.

The orders were later challenged at the Competition Appellate Tribunal, which ordered that 'the impugned order is set aside and the matter is remitted to the CCI for fresh adjudication of the issues relating to alleged violation" of the relevant sections of the Competition Act.'

India: ACC has reported a 40% drop in its consolidated net profit to US$17.7m for the quarter that ended on 30 September 2015 as it was hit by a sales decline and subdued prices. It had posted a net profit of US$29.5m during the same period of 2014.

ACC's total consolidated income fell marginally to US$428m in the July - September 2015 quarter from US$432m in the same period of 2014. Its total expenses grew to US$405m from US$395m in the 2014 quarter. ACC said that cement sales were poor during the July - September 2015 quarter and added that the pace of India's economic revival has been slower than expected. ACC's cement sales fell to 5.61Mt from 5.62Mt in the same period of 2014.

"With subdued construction activity in most of the monsoon season, the industry witnessed weak off-take of cement in the quarter. As a result, our cement volumes were correspondingly flat. Selling prices were subdued," said ACC. While sales here was almost flat, there was improvement in input and energy costs.