Ramco Cements Net Up 55%

Ramco Cements Q2 Results Show a 55% Jump In Net Profits

Chennai Based Cement Major Ramco Cements Limited has posted its September 2015 Quarter results which shows excellent performance riding on an efficient performance coupled with some good cost controls.

The company has reported a net profit of ₹138.72 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 as against ₹89.71 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago.
Total revenue stood at ₹893.92 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 as against ₹953.83 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago.
Cement sales was reported at 17.11 lakh tonnes as against 19.43 lakh tonnes for the corresponding quarter a year ago.

In related figures,
Finance costs dropped to ₹45.26 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 as against ₹47.99 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago.
Power and fuel costs dropped to ₹135.77 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 as against ₹185.19 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago.
Transportation and handling costs dropped to ₹155.60 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 as against ₹202.73 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Andhra Cements Posts Loss

Andhra Cements Part of the Jaypee Group Posts Net Loss of Rs.19 Crore in Q2

Andhra Cement's net loss stood at Rs.19.82 crore for the quarter ended September 30, against a net loss of Rs.4.89 crore in the same period a year ago.
Total standalone income stood at Rs.110.65 crore for the quarter ended September 30, against a  standalone income of Rs.0 crore in the same period a year ago.

Andhra Cements has two cement plants, located in Vishakapatnam and Dachepalli with a combined installed capacity of 1.4 MPTA. Its major markets include Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Orissa and Karnataka.

Andhra Cements is part of the Jaypee Group, a diversified industrial conglomerate with an annual turnover of around Rs. 25000 crores. The Jaypee Group, has interests in the Engineering & Construction sector, with a substantial interest in Cement, Hydro Power, Thermal Power, Wind Power, Expressways & Highways, Hospitality & Tourism, Real Estate, Hospitals, Minerals & Mining, Transmission, Information Technology and Education.

New Vice-Chairman For Century

K.M.Birla Now Vice-Chairman of  B.K.Birla's Century Textiles and Industries

Century Textiles and Industries' Board Of Directors has appointed Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of the Aditya Birla group, as Century’s Vice-Chairman. K.M.Birla, is the grandson of B.K.Birla, who is the Chairman of Century Textiles and Industries. Prior to this appointment, K.M.Birla was a director on Century’s board.

Century Textiles and Industries has a big cement business, apart from textiles and real estate in Mumbai. According to cement industry sources, Century  could be merged with UltraTech Cement, owned by the Aditya Birla group. UltraTech is India's largest cement company, with a capacity of 67.7 MPTA. 

Century Textiles has a cement capacity of 12.8 MPTA, while Kesoram Industries has a cement capacity of 7.25 MPTA. Both these cement companies form part of the B.K.Birla empire.

In recent years, cement industry insiders say that the Aditya Birla group companies had increased their stakes in Century Textiles and Industries, from 45 % to 50 %.

Anjani Portland Cement

Anjani Portland Cement Posts Excellent Q2 Results

Hyderabad based Anjani Portland Cement has posted its 2015 Q2 results.

Net Profit stood at Rs.9.60 crore, against Rs.2.88 crore for the corresponding quarter last year, an increase of 233 %.
Net Sales stood at Rs.79.13 crore, against Rs.67.07 crore for the corresponding quarter last year, an increase of 26 %.
Finance Cost stood at Rs.4.08 crore, against Rs.7.78 crore for the corresponding quarter last year, an decrease of 48 %.

The cement and cement products maker posted such excellent results on the back of strong realization and lower finance cost.

Anjani Portland Cement started with an initial production capacity of 0.3 million tonnes per annum in 1999. Its current cement production capacity is 1.2 million tonnes per annum. Its second plant powered with the latest modern technology had started operations in 2010.

Jaypee Group To Divest Cement Business

Jaypee Group In Talks With JSW Cement With New Offer

Around eight months ago, the Jaypee Group had initiated talks with JSW Cement, a private company of the diversified Sajjan Jindal lead JSW Group to sell its entire approx. 22 MPTA cement portfolio. At that time, sources say the offer was to sell a controlling 51 per cent stake in a joint venture that would keep majority control of its cement units with the Jaypee Group. The talks did not come to any tangible conclusion.

Now, informed sources say, Jaypee has gone back to JSW cement with a new proposal that calls for a complete sellout of its cement business. Though, some sources say that Jaypee is likely to exclude its first cement plant located in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, from the proposed sale.

Inspite of divesting around 9 MPTA of cement capacity to other cement companies like UltraTech Cement (4.8 MPTA), Shree Cement (1.5 MPTA) and Dalmia Cement (2.1 MPTA), as well as its current efforts to divest an additional 4.9 MPTA in Madhya Pradesh to UltraTech, the Delhi-based Jaypee Group group is still among the top five cement players in the country.

The Jaypee Group's has cement units in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. The group's flagship company,Jaiprakash Associates (JPA), has approximately 14.2 MPTA, under its wing. The rest, including the 5 MPTA Balaji Cement, are under subsidiaries, joint ventures or group entities.

More on Cement Business Aquisition here...

Dalmia All Set To Increase Market Share

Dalmia Cement Has Commenced Plans To Increase Its Market Share in South India

The 75 year-old cement major, Dalmia Cement Bharat Limited (DCBL) expects to improve its market share in south India by entering the Karnataka market.

Dalmia Cement recently commenced operations at its greenfield cement plant in Belgaum district, Karnataka, and launched its superior grade cement in the Karnataka market. The cement plant, built at the cost of ₹1,300-crore, will cater to customers in the Karnataka region, which accounts for 5 per cent of the total Indian cement market. The plant in Karnataka is the company’s 11th manufacturing facility in the country and is the third-largest cement group in India.

Dalmia Cement has a 24 MPTA cement manufacturing capacity and with the third largest manufacturing capacity in the country.

Read more on the South India Cement Market Share here...

Reliance Cement

Reliance Infrastructure To Exit Cement Business By Selling Off Reliance Cement

Anil Ambani, head of the Anil Ambani led Reliance Group has gone on record stating that  the company would look at divesting stake in non-core businesses including cement to bring down debt.

Started in 2007, Reliance Cement is a fully-owned subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure, part of the Anil Ambani led Reliance Group. The interest in the cement business was linked to the growth of its power business with the fly ash waste generated from the Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project being used as a basic raw material.

Reliance Cement had planned on earlier to emerge as the one of the biggest cement players in the country with the largest single location cement facility. It had initially planned to set up four cement plants of 5 MPTA cement capacity each at a massive investment outlay. All the units were to come up in Madhya Pradesh so that they could  leverage on the strengths of the Reliance Group's Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project.

The original blueprint included plans to scale up operations to 15 MTPA over the 3-5 years with integrated cement units in MP and Maharashtra.

Reliance Cement has a total installed capacity of 5.8 MPTA. Out of this 2.8 MTPA is at the mother unit based in Maihar, Madhya Pradesh that was commissioned in 2014. The rest of the cement units are in Kundaganj, Uttar Pradesh and Butiburi, Maharastra.

Reliance Cements is presently marketed in UP, MP, Jharkhand, West Bengal and in parts of Maharashtra.

Posted by Stewart D'Rozario Cement Marketing Consultant from news reports.

UTCL Cement Capacity Increase

UltraTech Cement Increases Cement Capacity

UltraTech Cement Ltd has commissioned a cement grinding unit with a capacity of 1.6 million tonnes at Dankuni in West Bengal. With this capacity addition, the company’s total cement capacity to 65 million tonnes per annum (MPTA).

In the last six months, the company has commissioned three new cement capacity additions, this includes a bulk cement terminal in Maharashtra, another 1.6 MPTA cement grinding unit in Haryana and a cement clinker capacity addition of 2 MPTA in Rajasthan.

With the commissioning of this new cement grinding unit, UltraTech Cement's total cement capacity in East India stands at 9.8 MPTA, when operated at full capacity utilization.

UltraTech Cement, is in the process of acquiring Jaiprakash Associates’ two cement assets in MP which will increase its total cement capacity to 71 MPTA.

JSW Cement Sponsors Construction Expo

Hyderabad To Host Construction Expo Sponsored By JSW Cement

The Hindu BusinessLine-CAI 2015 Construction Expo begins on September 11 at the HITEX Exhibition Centre and will go on for a futher two days. The 2015 Construction Expo will have more than 80 stalls promoted by companies in the construction, architecture and interior design market segments. The participating companies are to display their latest products and creations. Company personnel will be on hand to live-interact with the visitors.

JSW Cement and JSW Steel are the title sponsors of CAI 2015.
The event is powered by Kamai Elevators.
Co-sponsors are 
Hindustan Concrete Block,
Nippon Paint,
K-LITE Industries,
Womenz Modular Designers Pvt Ltd. and
Crompton Greaves Ltd.

Confirmed participants include among others
JCB India,
Everest Industries,
Phillips,
Hindustan Tiles and
Jaibhavani Plywood.

Industry associations supporting the event are
Indian Association of Structural Engineers,
Ready Mixed Concrete Manufacturers’ Associations and
The Indian Concrete Institute.

Cement Prices Rise in North Cement Markets

Recent Cement Price Hikes Cheers North Cement Industry

Cement prices have risen by Rs 80 per bag of 50 kg in the past two months and may rise further in North Cement Markets. Recently, cement companies have hiked prices yet again by Rs 20 per bag of 50 kg in North India and may raise it further as demand is picking up and as logistics costs rise according to cement industry sources. Retail cement prices have increased by a total Rs 80 per bag in under two months and is now being retailed at Rs 315-320 in the Delhi-NCR area. Cement dealers say that they expect cement prices to rise by Rs 10-15 by the end of this month itself.

Although companies have cut down on the cement supplies, retail cement prices are being driven up by rising demand and logistic costs. In the Delhi-NCR area, as companies are switching to railways, dealers have to pick up deliveries from the godowns, which results in additional cost of Rs 10 per bag.

Despite the skewed demand-supply scenario, cement companies in India have been constantly adding capacity over the past decade via the brown-field route, as setting up of new cement capacity via the greenfield route becomes challenging and costly. As of late, cement sales performance region-wise differ vastly and there is a race to gain larger scale market dominance and access to better performing regional cement markets. The southern and eastern cement markets seem to perform better than their counterparts elsewhere.

The cement industry is hoping for better days to come as the government has announced a series of steps to accelerate infrastructure development especially cement-based roads. Apart from stepping up building, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put on the fast lane the ambitious Bharat Mala project to build 5,000 km of border and coastal roads for an estimated Rs 55,000 crore. In June, the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation of India (NHIDCI) had invited bids for project reports on 2,100 km stretch of roads. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said recently that construction of highways has gone up to 13 km per day in the last one year compared with just 3 km per day during the previous years. The target is to step it up further to 30 km per day within two years.

Cement Maker Birla Corp Acquisition Update

Birla Corp.'s Cement Maket Changing Cement Units Acquisition

If cement industry experts and cement insider reports are to be believed, the biggest acquisition that the MP Birla Group's cement division, Birla Corp. is to undertake may not materialize at all. The 96 year-old Kolkota based cement company, is all set to acquire 2 cement units of Lafarge India in one of the cement industry's biggest and market changing deals.The ongoing ownership dispute between the Birla family and the Lodhas, who now manage Birla Corporation, according to news reports, could create obstacles for the deal between Lafarge and the company.

The MP Birla group has a 63% share in the company, but Birla Corp. is currently managed by Harsh Lodha, son of the late RS Lodha, a chartered accountant, who was a close confidant of the MP Birla family.

The total installed cement capacity of Birla Corp. is 8.79 MPTA and with the acquisition of  the Jojobera and Sonadih cement businesses from Lafarge India with a cement capacity of 5 MPTA approx., the company will have a total installed capacity of approx 14 MPTA. This will catapult Birla Corp. into the top 10 cement companies in the country and will be a game-changer for the eastern cement markets. Birla Corp will then be a dominant cement player in those geographical areas.

India Cements Q1 Net at Rs.40 Crore

India Cements Business Performance

India Cements Limited, Chennai, reported a better-than-expected net profit of Rs. 40.10 crore for the quarter ended 30 June, 2015 helped by higher cement prices mainly in the southern markets where the company's major cement sales is done.

The Chennai-based company had registered a net loss at Rs 2.96 crore in corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

For the financial year ending March 31, 2015 net profits of the company were at Rs 29.45 crore.

The cement maker's total standalone income stood at Rs 1,075.45 crore in the first quarter as against Rs 1,234.82 crore in the same quarter of 2014-15.

For the 12 month period ending March 31, 2015 total income from operations stood at Rs 4,453.85 crore.

The total expenses of the company, were Rs 931.48 crore as against Rs 1,134.66 crore in the reported quarter.

Capacity utilisation had dropped to 58 % from 67 % in the corresponding quarter. Net plant realisation per tonne of cement had increased by almost Rs 600 to stand at Rs 3930 compared to Rs 3312 earlier.

The total sale of cement for the quarter for India was 20.81 lakh tonne as against 23.91 lakh tonne a year ago, a slump of 13 per cent.

The Chennai based India Cements has 7 integrated plants in Tamilnadu & Andhra Pradesh, one in Rajasthan (through its subsidiary Trinethra Cement Limited) & 2 Grinding units, one each in Tamilnadu & Maharashtra with a total installed capacity of 15.5 MTPA and a annual turnover of Rs.52.31 Bn.

India Cements Q1 Results

India Cements Performance

India Cements Profits

The Making Of A Giant Global Cement Producer

Lafarge-Holcim

The mega-merger of Lafarge and Holcim throws up some astounding facts, a few are given below.
Mega-Merger of 2 cement giants Lafarge and Holcim.
Combined cement experience of 180 years.
Combined cement production of 386 million tonnes per annum.
Good presence in emerging cement markets of Asia and Africa with high cement demand.
Presence in 90 countries worldwide of which 73 countries are emerging cement markets.
13 cement product research and development labs.
1300 construction materials research experts.

Read more here on this well written article on the Larfarge-Holcim Cement Business Merger.

Heidelberg Cement To Take Over Italcementi

Heidelberg Cement to become 2nd largest cement company

Germany's biggest cement producer is all set to acquire a 45% share in Italcementi as a first step. On open offer would be made to minority shareholders to acquire the rest later after the initial deal goes through. With this the total combined cement production capacity will be 200 Million tonnes. Heidelberg Cement currently produces around 140 Million tonnes of cement, its smaller rival Italcementi around 60 Million tonnes of cement.

The combined cement company will have operations in over 60 countries worldwide. This deal comes just weeks after the massive Lafarge and Holcim merger. The Pesenti family,one of Italy's biggest and oldest industrial dynasties, agreed to sell their 45-per-cent stake in Italcementi for 10.60 euros per share, in a mega deal worth around 1.66 billion euros, representing a premium of more than 65% over the average market price reflected in the last three months. The Pesenti family will receive approx. 5% shares of the combined group as part of the deal making them the second largest shareholders after Germany’s Merckle family.

You can read more updates in the links below.

Heidelberg Cement To Acquire Italcementi.
Italcementi to be taken over.
Mega Cement Aquisition.

ACC Cement Sales

Cement Markets : Harbinger Of Things To Come

ACC Cements Q1 results with a show of Rs.131.4 crores shocked most analysts particularly the analysts who predicted a net profit of Rs.205 crore.

The key factors for the fall in net profits inspite of ACC Cement selling more cement, can be attributed to rising costs in terms of coal, cement freight, retail diesel prices and employee remuneration.

Cement price pressure due to surplus cement capacities with the exception of South India and East India cement markets in turn has contributed to the drop in ACC Cements net profits.

Read more on ACC Cement Sales and net profits...

Poor Concrete Growth In Cement Markets

Cement Markets Yet To Take Off

With the revival of the monsoon, cement markets are showing signs of marginal improvement over previous months. Cement industry experts are now projecting growth figures in the region of 5 percent. This is against actual growth figures of 8.4 percent for the corresponding period last year.

More on Growth in Cement Markets

Earthquake resistant concrete

Eco-friendly concrete

Experts from the University of Sheffield, Sheffield and the Imperial College, London have in a European Union funded project found that rubber, steel and textile fibres in old tyres can be reused in the making of a more eco-friendly concrete that is not only tougher but also highly resistant to earthquakes.

Read more on the innovative use of old tyres in the making of better concrete here at earthquake resistant concrete.

JSW Cements' Innovative Plan

Increase in cement capacity at reduced costs

A master plan drawn by Harvard Business School-trained JSW scion Parth Jindal wherein cement making costs are reduced by 3/4ths by setting up grinding units closer to cement retail markets as against the traditional method of cement clinker units placed near limestone mines and sources.

This innovative plan, a brainchild of Parth Jindal, will enable JSW Cement to add 1 tonne of cement capacity at approx. Rs.180 crore, against Rs. 840 crore needed to set up a similar cement capacity under the traditional method.

An added edge that JSW Cement has is in the growth potential of Slag Cement in the country. JSW cement sources its slag from its sister company JSW Steel at competitive prices.

More on JSW Cement

Cement Market Expansion

Top 10 Cement Producers

Birla Corporation has currentlty an installed capacity of 9.3 Million tonnes per annum. The company has plans to expand that capacity to 15 Million tonnes per annum. This will make this cement producer one of the top 10 cement players in the country. The plan envisages a time frame of four years.

The current cement market scenario is that there is a glut brought about by capacities built up by cement producers anticipating a higher demand in the cement markets which did not materialise.

More here on...
Cement Market Expansion

Cement Market Sales Recovery

North India Cement Sales Recovery

According to Cement Industry insiders and cement industry experts, cement sales in North India is likely to recover only during FY18.

North India cement markets are dream markets for most cement companies who have a cement marketing presence there, as it is one which has a high capacity utilization, low market fragmentation and little or no threat from outside players.

The drawback however, is that it is a cement market which is heavily dependant on rural cement sales and retail cement sales. Given that rural purchasing power is under pressure due to unseasonal rains, crop damages etc., all hopes are now on a revival of infrastructure projects.

North India enjoys a lion's share of major infrastructure projects which will be seen only in the FY18 to make a meaning difference to cement sales there.

More...Cement Market Sales Recovery

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Cement Business Plan

Future Cement Projects

In order to facilitate the implementation of its cement business plan and / or to facilitate the implementation of future cement projects, J.K.Cement Limited has decided to make Jaykaycem (Central) Limited its wholly owned subsidiary by acquiring 100% paid up equity capital.

Cement Business Plan

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Ujjwal Batra Named Lafarge India CEO

Ujjwal Batra Named Lafarge India CEO

Lafarge India, has named Ujjwal Batria as chief executive officer (CEO) of the company with effect from June 22, 2015. Mr Ujjwal Batra takes over this position from outgoing Martin Kriegner, who has been designated as Area Manager for Central Europe of LafargeHolcim.

Lafarge, one of the world’s largest cement manufacturers, has been off-loading its non-core assets to bring the focus on its key cement and concrete business. Lafarge India has six cement units scattered across India. Its cement plants are located in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Haryana and West Bengal. The total cement production capacity is around 11 MT.

More here on Cement CEO

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JP Cement Clarifies Position

Cement Grinding Unit Sale

Jaiprakash Associates Ltd

 JP Cements' Jaiprakash Associates Limited, has clarified the company's stand on various reports from the cement industry as well as newspapers on the sale of their Sikandrabad cement grinding unit to Heidelberg.

It goes on to say that it is all market speculation and the company does not wish to comment on market speculation.

It further states that the cement company is firm in its resolve to reduce its overall debt by disposing some of its assets and investments.

Cement Grinding Unit Sale

google.co.in

1 Million Tonne Cement Unit

1 Million Tonne Cement Unit

According to cement industry sources and news reports, JP Cement are in advanced stages of negotiation with Heidelberg Cement for the sale of JP Cement's Sikandarabad cement grinding unit for a value of Rs.500 crores.

JP Cement's Sikandarabad cement grinding unit can be an advantage for cement companies looking at the rich Delhi cement markets / Western cement markets as it is strategically located in a limestone rich area.

More on this 1 Million Tonne Cement Unit
 
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Cement Marketing in FY16

Cement Marketing in FY16

India is the second largest cement manufacturer in the world after China with an installed capacity of 390 Million Tonnes. Indian cement marketing is under the grip of a huge gap between demand and supply and could register single digit growth figures for now 5 years in a row. This year's scenario as projected by experts is to the range of 1% to 3 %.


Read more projections for FY16 from experts here...Cement Marketing in FY16

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European Cement Association

European Cement Association

Daniel Gauthier, CEO Western Europe-Africa of HeidelbergCement, was elected President of CEMBUREAU, The European Cement Association at the Association's General Assembly in Oslo for a two-year period.

Goncalo Salazar Leite was elected Vice-President at the same meeting for the same term.

You can read more on Cement Association here.

Cement Production to Double

Cement Production

Wonder Cement is all set to double its productin capacity from the existing 3.25 MT to 7 MT by the year end. This is to be achieved by adding a second line to the existing one based in Bhatkotri, Rajasthan. The investment layout to achieve this will be to the tune of Rs.1600 crores.

The long-term cement production plan is 10 MT from 7 MT within a time frame of 5 years and a further investment layout of Rs.1600 crores. This is planned to be completed by adding a third production line in the same Bhatkotri cement unit based in Rajasthan.

You can read more here on Cement Production