Displaying items by tag: UltraTech Cement

India: Larsen & Toubro has secured and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a new integrated cement plant at Pali, Rajasthan. It says that a major national cement producer awarded the contract.

In December 2020, Global Cement reported that Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech Cement planned to proceed with the construction of a cement plant at Pali.

India: The Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) has validated UltraTech Cement’s CO₂ emissions reduction targets. The validation confirms that the company’s targets are in line with a 2°C temperature rise scenario under the Paris Agreement. The targets consist of a 27% reduction in Scope 1 CO₂ emissions between 2017 and 2032 and a 69% reduction in Scope 2 CO₂ emissions between 2017 and 2032. This corresponds to a 462kg/t net CO₂ reduction for the producer’s cement.

Managing director Kailash Jhanwar said, “A changing climate scenario poses significant challenges for the built environment sector. It equally provides valuable opportunities to develop sustainable products and services. By committing to science-based targets, UltraTech Cement has once again demonstrated leadership in paving the way for the sector to help build sustainable infrastructure.”

LafargeHolcim’s financial results for 2020 arrived this week, giving us data on many of the larger multinational cement producers. The Chinese ones are yet to release their results and some of the larger other ones such as CRH, Votorantim and InterCement are pending too. Yet, what we have so far gives a selective view on an unusual year. Revenue was down for most producers year-on-year in 2020 due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic upon construction activity and demand for building materials. There were large regional differences between how countries implemented different lockdowns, how markets responded and how they bounced back afterwards. Generally, the financial effects of this were felt in the first half of 2020 with recovery in the second.

Graph 1: Sales revenue from selected cement producers in 2019 and 2020. Source: Company reports. Note: Figures calculated for Indian producers.

Graph 2: Cement sales volumes from selected cement producers in 2019 and 2020. Source: Company reports. Note: Figures calculated for Indian producers.

LafargeHolcim’s figure in Graph 1 above is a little misleading given that it has divested assets. Its like-for-like reduction in net sales was more like 6%, a similar figure to HeidelbergCement’s. Both experienced mixed results in North America and Europe but not terribly so. LafargeHolcim did relatively well in Latin America. HeidelbergCement found growth in its Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin region. It’s also worth noting the comparative leverage of each company: 1.4x for LafargeHolcim and 1.86x for HeidelbergCement. Both are slimming down but the latter’s ongoing divestment plan (see GCW 494) can be seen in the context of its debt to earnings ratio and the cash crisis that coronavirus threw up in 2020.

The contrast between these companies and Cemex and Buzzi Unicem is striking. Both of these benefitted from operations in the North America and parts of Europe. In Cemex’s case sales in Mexico and the US, made the difference despite falling sales elsewhere. Buzzi Unicem’s sales also held up in the US especially in the second half of the year. Europe was more mixed for both producers with growth reported in Germany but losses elsewhere.

The Indian producers tell a different story but one no less notable. Despite a near complete shutdown of production for around a month from late March 2020, the regional market largely recovered. As UltraTech Cement told it in January 2021, “Recovery from the Covid-19 led disruption of the economy has been rapid. This has been fuelled by quicker demand stabilisation, supply side restoration and greater cost efficiencies.” It added that rural residential housing had driven growth and that government-infrastructure projects had helped too. It expects pent-up urban demand to improve with the gradual return of the migrant workforce.

Unfortunately, Semen Indonesia, the leading Indonesian producer, suffered as the country’s production overcapacity was further hit by scaling back of government-based infrastructure projects as it tackled the health situation instead. Its solution has been to focus on export markets instead with new countries including Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam and Taiwan added in 2020 joining existing ones such as China, Australia and Bangladesh. The company’s total sales volumes may have fallen by 8% year-on-year to 40Mt in 2020 but sales outside of Indonesia, including exports, grew by 23% to 6.3Mt.

On a final note it’s sobering to see that the third largest seller of cement in this line-up was UltraTech Cement, a mainly regional producer. Regional in this sense though refers to India, the world’s second largest cement market. By installed production capacity it’s the fifth largest company in the world after CNBM, Anhui Conch, LafargeHolcim and HeidelbergCement. This move towards regionalisation among the large cement producers can also be seen in the large western-based multinationals as they are heading towards fewer but more selective locations. More on the world’s largest producer, China, when the producers start to releases their financial results towards the end of March 2021. Whatever 2021 brings, let’s hope it’s better than 2020.

India: Germany-based Gebr. Pfeiffer has received an order from Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech Cement for nine vertical roller mills. The producer plans to install the mills across three newly-built clinker lines. The supplier said, “The cooperation between UltraTech Cement and Gebr. Pfeiffer is based on the understanding of not only being a customer or supplier, but to achieve common goals in partnership.”

India: The board of UltraTech Cement has voted to raise up to US$411m through issuance of US dollar-denominated bonds. The company will use the proceeds to refinance existing Indian Rupee debt, with the remainder reserved for regular on-going capital expenditure requirements and general corporate purposes.

India: A raid by customs officers on an alleged fake cement production facility near Manpur, Madhya Pradesh, has resulted in the recovery of 250 bags of fake cement. Also present were large quantities of fly ash and low-quality cement, as well as further empty cement bags. The bags bore UltraTech Cement branding. The Free Press Journal has reported the operation was situated in a shed adjacent to a roadside restaurant. Police are searching for an individual seen fleeing the site at the time of the raid.

India: UltraTech Cement has awarded Germany-based KHD Humboldt Wedag a contract relating to three new kiln lines, one new raw meal grinding plant with two KHD roller presses, and the upgrade of five existing clinker grinding plants with KHD roller presses. KHD said that the engineering and supply of equipment as well as supervisory services related to erection and commissioning, comprised a potential order volume of more than Euro30m. It added that UltraTech Cement and Humboldt Wedag India are currently negotiating with the aim of concluding a corresponding Engineering and Procurement (EP) contract package.

India: Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech Cement recorded a profit of US$506m in the nine-month period ending on 31 December 2020, up by 47% year-on-year from US$345m in the corresponding period of 2019. Sales fell by 4% to US$4.16bn from US$4.33bn. Third-quarter sales rose by 17% to US$1.68bn from US$1.43bn and third-quarter profit rose by 122% to US$217m from US$97m. The company said that it ended the period having reached 84% production at its newly acquired cement plants of 15Mt/yr total capacity. In the third quarter the board approved capital expenditure investments of US$747m aimed to increase cement production capacity by a further 13Mt/yr.

The company said, “Recovery from the Covid-19-led disruption of the economy has been rapid. This has been fuelled by quicker demand stabilisation, supply side restoration and greater cost efficiencies.” It added, “While UltraTech continues to closely monitor the impact of Covid-19 on its operations, its capital and financial resources remain entirely protected and its liquidity position is adequately covered. With strong rural growth, revival in manufacturing sentiment, buoyancy in the goods and services tax and tax collections, UltraTech expects demand to grow on the back of the government’s push on infrastructure projects. Given its pan-India presence, UltraTech is well-positioned to support the rising demand for cement in the country. As always, UltraTech remains committed to all its business associates and stakeholders.

India: UltraTech Cement has raised around US$137m through unsecured redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCD). It has allotted 10,000 NCDs, each worth US$13,700, by private placement. The NCDs will reach maturity on 29 December 2023.

India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has raided the offices of LafargeHolcim subsidiaries ACC and Ambuja Cement and Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech Cement as part of an investigation into alleged anti-competitive behaviour, according to the Press Trust of India. ACC said it, "is of the firm view that it has acted and continues to act in compliance with competition laws and we are fully cooperating with the investigation and providing all necessary information to the authorities."