Displaying items by tag: ACC

India: ACC has appointed Jan Jenisch as an additional director to its board. Jenisch, a German national, was appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of ACC’s parent company LafargeHolcim in mid-2017. Previously he was the CEO of Sika. He graduated from the University Fribourg, Switzerland and holds an MBA degree.

India: ACC’s cement sales rose by 18% year-on-year to 5.96Mt in the third quarter of 2017 from 5.07Mt in the same period of 2016 as its Jamul and Sindri plants have come online. Its sales volumes increased by 10% to 19.3Mt in the first nine months of the year. Net sales rose by 16.5% to US$1.46m in the first three quarters and its net profit after tax rose by 27% to US$110m.

Despite its positive result the cement producer warned against rising import costs from higher slag prices and fuel costs. Higher usage of imported and auctioned coal, caused by a limited availability of linkage coal, adversely affected fuel costs. However, the company said that it partly mitigated this through improved raw material mixtures and fuel mix optimisation.

India: ACC’s sales have risen as its Jamul cement plant in Chhattisgarh has ramped-up production increasing its presence in the east of the country. Its sales rose by 12.7% year-on-year to US$1bn in the first half of 2017 from US$888m in the same period in 2016. Its cement sales volumes rose by 6.9% to 13.3Mt from 12.5Mt. Its net profit after tax rose by 12.5% to US$83m from US$74m. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim also launched two new brands – ACC Suraksha and ACC HPC – in the preceding quarter.

India: LafargeHolcim’s subsidiaries ACC and Ambuja Cement have started exploring the options for a merger. The cement producers have initiated a study to assess the benefits of the move. A special committee of directors, of which the majority are independent directors, has been constituted to commence the evaluation. The boards of both companies will make a decision once a recommendation is received from the special committee of directors and the Audit Committee.

India: ACC’s net profit after tax has fallen by 9% year-on-year to US$32.7m in the first quarter of 2017 from US$36m in the same period in 2016. Its sales revenue grew by 8% to US$482m and its cement sales volumes grew by 4% to 6.6Mt. The cement producer blamed the fall in profit on higher costs of petcoke, coal, packing materials and freight, as well as a shortage of fly ash. ACC also reported that it launched two new products in 2017, including ACC High Performance Cement (HPC), a slag cement.

India: ACC has sold its 12.1% in Shiva Cement to JSW Cement for US$5.8m. Following the sale JSW Cement now holds the entire promoter holding in Shiva Cement, according to the Mint newspaper. In January 2017 JSW Cement announced that it was making an open offer to buy out Shiva Cement. Shiva Cement operates a 0.2Mt/yr cement plant in Rourkela, Odisha.

India: Neeraj Akhoury has been appointed managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of ACC with effect from 4 February 2017. He joined the board of ACC in December 2016.

Akhoury has worked in the cement and steel industries for the last 24 years. Previously he was the CEO of Lafarge Surma Cement and the country representative for LafargeHolcim Bangladesh. He began his career with Tata Steel in 1993 and joined the LafargeHolcim Group in India in 1999. He was a member of the Executive Committee of Lafarge India, heading Corporate Affairs followed by Sales. In 2011, he moved to Nigeria as CEO and Managing Director of Lafarge AshakaCem. Subsequently he was appointed Strategy and Business Development Director for Middle East and Africa at the Lafarge headquarters in Paris, France.

India: ACC’s net sales have fallen by 4% year-on-year to US$1.63bn in 2016 from US$1.70bn in 2015. Sales volumes of cement fell by 2.7% to 23.0Mt from 23.6Mt and operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 7.5% to US$211m from US$229m. However, profit after tax rose by 2.7% to US$90m from US$87.5m. The company described the market conditions in 2016 as ‘challenging.’ It added that the economic slowdown following demonetisation was easing.

“The highlight of the year was strong cost saving measures, especially on fuel flexibility and raw materials. Focusing on our high quality, high performance product portfolio played an important role in the overall performance for the year. We are encouraged by the government's plans to invest in infrastructure," said Neeraj Akhoury, Managing Director and chief executive officer of ACC.

The cement producer’s 1.35Mt/yr grinding plant at Sindri, Jharkhand was commissioned at the end October 2016, joining a 2.79Mt/yr integrated plant at Jamul, Chhattisgarh which was commissioned earlier in 2016. The new plants are expected to strengthen ACC’s market presence in the east of the country.

India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found seven cement companies guilty of bid rigging and cartelisation and imposed a total fine of nearly US$30m on them. The accused companies are Shree Cement, UltraTech Cement, Jaiprakash Associates, JK Cement, Ambuja Cements, ACC and JK Lakshmi Cement, according to the Times of India. The fines are based on 0.3% of each company’s average turnover for three financial years. Each company has also been ordered to cease and desist such behaviour.

The ruling relates to a tender floated by a Haryana state procurement agency in 2012 that the CCI started investigating in 2014. Evidence cited in the CCI’s order includes text messages and phone calls made between officials of the companies.

UltraTech Cement and Shree Cement have issued statements saying that they will appeal against the fine.

India: LafargeHolcim has increased its shareholding in Ambuja Cement and ACC via its subsidiary Holderind Investments. It now owns 63% of Ambuja Cement’s shares and 4.5% of ACC’s shares. The group will pay for the additional stakes in Indian Rupees. The impact on LafargeHolcim’s net debt will be Euro302m. It described India as one of LafargeHolcim’s key markets with solid long-term fundamentals and a clear potential for further improvement in business performance.