Displaying items by tag: Ambuja

India: Bimlendra Jha, Managing Director and CEO of Ambuja Cement, a member of LafargeHolcim, has left the company to pursue other interests. The company has appointed Neeraj Akhoury as MD and CEO with effect from 21 February 2020. His appointment is subject to the approval of the shareholders.

Meanwhile, LafargeHolcim’s other Indian subsidiary, ACC, which is in the process of merging with Ambuja, has promoted its chief commercial officer Sridhar Balakrishnan to the position of MD and CEO.

India: Lafarge Holcim-owned Ambuja Cement’s consolidated net profit almost halved to US$100.4m during the three months to 31 December 2019, from US$191.4m in the three months to 31 December 2018. The 2018 result was boosted by a one off benefit of US$121.5m, meaning that underlying operating profit has improved year-on-year. Ambuja’s revenue from operations was up by 6% to US$992m from US$936m.

India: Emami Group has indicated that it will receive bids for its cement division Emami Cement from mid-January 2020. Business Standard newspaper has reported that Aditya Birla’s UltraTech Cement is likely to submit an offer in the region of US$0.94bn for the company – over 20% lower than Emami Group’s previously projected evaluation of US$1.18bn for Emami Cement. It also reported the possible involvement of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim’s Ambuja Cements in the upcoming auction.

India: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Ambuja Cement has grown its consolidated net profit by 35% year-on-year to US$73.4m in the three months to 30 September 2019 from US$55.9m in the corresponding period of 2018. Revenue grew by 1.5% to US$0.87bn from US$0.86bn. Ambuja managing director and CEO Bimlendra Jha spoke in positive terms of the growth in spite of falling volumes. Expenses fell amidst logistics improvements, as Ambuja continues to focus on product mix enrichment, alternative fuel substitution and the increased use of renewable energy.

Other Indian cement companies to weather stagnant third quarter sales with growing net profit were Shree Cement with 414% growth to US$43.6m and ACC with 45% growth to US$29.5m.

India: LafargeHolcim and HeidelbergCement have joined a bidding war for Emami Cement. LafargeHolcim is reported to have submitted an expression of interest via its subsidiary Ambuja Cement, according to the Hindu newspaper. HeidelbergCement has submitted its bids through HeidelbergCement India. Emami Cement has an expected value of around US$845m. Nuvoco Vistas Corporation, Shree Cement and Dalmia Bharat have also been linked to the sale.

Emami Cement operates a 2.5Mt/yr integrated plant at Risda in Chhattisgarh and a 2.5Mt/yr grinding plant at Panagarh in West Bengal. It acquired a 0.6Mt/yr grinding plant at Bhabua, Bihar in September 2018. In addition, the firm has mining assets in Guntur in Andhra Pradesh and near Jaipur in Rajasthan. Its main markets are in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It markets its products under the Double Bull brand.

India: Ambuja Cement’s net sales increased by 5% year-on-year to US$834m in the first half of 2019 from US$824m in the same period in 2018. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 3% to US$168m from US$164m. However, its sales volumes of cement dropped by 3% to 12.2Mt from 12.6Mt. Bimlendra Jha, the managing Director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, said that the company managed to optimise its logistics, raw material and fixed costs.

India: Ambuja Cement is looking for ready-mix concrete (RMX) and aggregate assets to buy as part of its growth plans. A company source quoted by the Business Standard newspaper said that it was considering ‘growth options’ in all of its core businesses of cement, RMX and aggregates. Industry analysts have interpreted this as an effort to diversify the business away from dominance by the cement sector. However, expansion in the RMX market is expected to be difficult owing to the lack of local organisation in the market.

The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim has a cement production capacity of 63Mt/yr, including those of ACC. Both Ambuja Cement and ACC use a master supply agreement to coordinate sales, marketing and logistics.

India: Cement producers and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) have launched the Indian Cement Sector SDG Roadmap. The planning framework uses the United Nation’s (UN) sustainable development goals (SDG) to set a series of goals in energy and climate, people and communities, the circular economy and natural resource management. It is intended to contribute to the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This initiative has been convened by nine cement companies: ACC, Ambuja Cement, CRH, Dalmia Cement (Bharat), Heidelberg Cement, Shree Cement, Orient Cement, UltraTech Cement, Votorantim Cimentos. It is also partially funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Notable goals from the roadmap include promoting railway and waterway transport networks, improving transport safety, increasing the use of blended cements and encouraging the use of alternative fuels. The framework also plans to increase the number of women in the indsutry workforce at every level from entry to board.

India: Customers of Ambuja Cement have been deceived by a fake website pretending to take orders for the company. Victims of the fraud have notified the police in Mumbai, according to the Times of India newspaper. The fraudulent website obtained orders, raised invoices and promised delivery following the receipt of advance payment. When the customers failed to receive the goods they approached Ambuja Cement and the deception was revealed. So far around US$2500 has been reported lost.

India: Ambuja Cement’s net sales grew by 3% year-on-year to US$410m in the first three months of 2019 from US$398m in the same period in 2018. Its cement sales volumes rose by 2% to 6.37Mt from 6.22Mt. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 9% to US$66.7m from its net profit after tax increased by 57% to US$61.4m. The cement producer said that its focus on alternative fuels had partly mitigated a ‘significant’ rise in power and fuels costs.