Displaying items by tag: India

India: ACC recorded sales of US$1.16bn during the first half of its 2024 financial year that started in April 2023. This represents a year-on-year rise of 14% from US$1.02bn in the first half of the previous financial year. Cement sales grew by 15%, to US$1.08bn, 94% of total sales. The company’s raw materials costs rose by 16% to US$185m, while its power and fuel costs fell by 24% to US$241m, failing to offset a 5% rise in overall costs, to US$1.06bn. As such, ACC reported a profit after tax of US$102m, up by a factor of six from nine-month 2023 financial year levels.

India: Sagar Cement has appointed J Raja Reddy as its company secretary and compliance officer with effect from 11 November 2023. He succeeds R Soundararajan in the post, following his retirement for health reasons. Reddy has worked for Sagar Cement since 2013 and is currently working as the company’s assistant company secretary.

India: Udaipur Cement Works commissions second kiln line at its Udaipur cement plant in Rajasthan. Reuters has reported that the new line doubles the plant’s clinker capacity to 3Mt/yr.

India: Sagar Cements reported sales worth US$136m in the first half of the 2024 financial year. This corresponds to a year-on-year rise of 9.1% from US$124m in the first half of the previous financial year. The producer recorded a loss for the period of US$6.31m, down by 3.9% from US$6.57m. This was in spite of a 7.8% rise in its total costs, to US$148m.

India: Adani Group has reportedly indicated an interest in acquiring the 1.2Mt/yr Shahabad cement plant in Karnataka from Jaiprakash Associates. The plant is the subject of an as yet incomplete deal between Jaiprakash Associates and Dalmia Bharat for the transfer of the former’s cement and power plants for US$671m.

The Business Standard newspaper has reported that Adani Group is in talks with ‘several companies’ over possible bolt-on acquisitions, with a view to doubling its cement capacity to 140Mt/yr by the end of 2028.

India: CK Birla Group has approached Adani Group as a possible buyer for its 38% stake in Orient Cement. Mint News has reported that CK Birla Group has previously rejected offers from other local cement producers for the stake. The group is reportedly seeking ‘double’ its market value of US$466m.

Orient Cement plans to make capital expenditure investments worth US$120m/yr up to the end of the 2025 financial year on 31 March 2023.

India: Grasim Industries has secured board approval for an issuance to raise up to US$480m. Local press has reported that the producer will use the proceeds for planned capital expenditure investments, including in the paints sector, as well as to repay existing borrowings and for ‘general corporate’ purposes.

India: Dalmia Bharat sold 13.2Mt of cement during the first half of the 2024 financial year (1 April 2023 – 30 September 2023), up by 9.6% year-on-year 12Mt in the first half of the 2023 financial year. This contributed towards a 24% year-on-year rise in the producer’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to US$144m from US$116m in the previous first half. During the first half of the current financial year, Dalmia Bharat commenced commercial production from its new 500,000t/yr Ariyalur clinker plant and 2Mt/yr Sattur grinding plant, both in Tamil Nadu. The former commissioning raised the company’s clinker capacity to 22.2Mt/yr.

Group managing director and CEO Puneet Dalmia said “We see a multi-year-strong cement demand trend continuing, as India is undergoing a large-scale metamorphosis. We were one of the first ones to foresee this upcycle and started building our capacity ahead of time. In the past 3.5 years, we have added 17.2Mt/yr-worth of cement capacity, which is 65% growth over 2020 financial year capacity. In line with our vision to reach 110 – 130Mt/yr by 2031, we are continuing to make consistent strides in that direction and capitalise upon the huge opportunity ahead of us.”

The company’s cement managing director and CEO, Mahendra Singhi, noted the effects of a ‘reduction in fuel prices, increased usage of renewable power and improvement in key performance indicators.’ He added “We continue to demonstrate our commitment towards the environment, as we have further brought down our CO₂ footprint to 456kg/t of cement, which is one of the lowest in the global cement sector.”

India: Dalmia Bharat has announced a planned investment of US$10.9m in a grinding unit expansion at its 1Mt/yr Banjari cement plant in Bihar. The expansion will raise the plant’s capacity by 500,000t/yr and conclude before 31 March 2025.

India: Dalmia Bharat says that it will complete its acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates’ cement business, Jaypee Cement, towards the end of the 2024 financial year on 31 March 2024. Informist EquityWire News has reported that the deal is ‘taking more time’ than expected to conclude.

Jaypee Cement’s Madhya Pradesh-based subsidiary Jaybee Bhilai Cement is subject to an on-going shareholder dispute, due to which a court has frozen the company’s 74% shareholding in the unit.