Indian Cement Industry Updates

Indian Cement Industry

India Cements

The South Indian cement major denied reports that suggested business tycoon Damani was considering a controlling stake in the company.

"We reiterate that the company is in total compliance of all the disclosure requirements to the stock exchanges under Regulation 30 of the SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015 and wish to clarify that other than the disclosures already available in the stock exchanges, we have no other information/announcement (including impending announcement) to be made, which in our opinion may have a bearing on the price behaviour in the shares of our company," the company said in a BSE filing recently.

JSW Cement

New Brand Ambassadors

JSW Cement has brought in former cricketer and current president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly as well as captain of the Indian national football team and Bengaluru FC, Sunil Chhetri as its brand ambassadors. The company is also rolling out its new multi-media marketing campaign ‘Leader’s Choice’ featuring both these sports icons.

Ramco Cements Results

Ramco Cements  has reported 13.17 % decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 142.90 crore for the fourth quarter ended on March 31, 2020, mainly due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 164.58 crore during the January-March quarter of 2018-19.

Total revenue of the company was down 9.17 % to Rs 1,403.90 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 1,545.77 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.

Total revenue the company was down 9.17 % to Rs 1,403.90 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 1,545.77 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.

Total expenses stood at Rs 1,218.69 crore in fourth quarter of 2019-20, down 6.38 %, as against Rs 1,301.85 crore in year-ago period.

During the quarter, cement sale volume was down 10.98 % to 29.32 lakh tonnes as against 32.94 lakh tonnes in the year-ago quarter.

However, for the fiscal 2019-20, Ramco Cements' net profit was up 18.43 % to Rs 605.70 crore. It was Rs 511.43 crore in financial year 2018-19.

Covid-19 Pandemic

And The Indian Cement Industry Outlook Series

Against the Covid-19 pandemic, most businesses will be looking to maintain their cash position. This is true of the Indian Cement Industry too. Due to the lockdown, cement sales have been adversely affected and this in turn has affected their ground level liquidity. Focus will be on maintaining or improving liquidity. Another aspect would be reducing expenditure. To this effect, a major casualty will be capital expenditure.

Cement major UltraTech has already begun moving in this direction. The Aditya Birla Group Company has stated in a regulatory filing:
That the capital and financial resources of the company are well protected.
That the company had been servicing its debt obligations as per schedule and on the due dates.
The the company did not require to avail the moratorium extended by banks as per RBI guidelines.
That the company plans to restrict its capital expenditure (CAPEX) to Rs. 1,000 crores.