Ultratech Cement
Saturday, October 20, 2007 | | |
UltraTech Cement Limited, an Aditya Birla Group Company, announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended 30th September, 2007. Net Sales at Rs11.73bn (Rs10.05bn) is up by 17% compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Profit before Depreciation, Interest and Tax at Rs3.55bn (Rs2.66bn) grew 33%. Profit After Tax rose by 46% from Rs1.27bn to Rs1.86bn.
The Company produced 3.34 MMT (3.00 MMT) of cement. The effective capacity utilisation was 85% (84%) on account of planned maintenance shutdown. Domestic volume at 3.15 MMT (2.80 MMT) registered a growth of 12%. Exports were curtailed to cater to the domestic market.
Costs continue to remain under pressure on account of mounting shipping freight and coal prices. The Capex announced by the Company is progressing on schedule. These include the setting up of the captive power plants at the Company’s Units in Chattisgarh and Gujarat and expansion of capacity at the Unit in Andhra Pradesh together with a split grinding unit.
The power plant in Gujarat will be commissioned in a phased manner commencing from the last quarter of the current financial year. Ready Mix Concrete Plants are also being set up across the country. Around Rs33bn has been earmarked, to be spent over the next three years on these expansions and de-bottlenecking.
The Industry has announced additional capacities of around 90 million tonnes to be commissioned over the next three years. These could result in a surplus scenario thereby putting pressure on prices from end FY09. However, the demand for cement is expected to grow around 10% linked to GDP growth.