The India Cements has reported a gross turnover of Rs.4,221.69 crore for the year ended March 2010, up from Rs.3,954.53 crore in the previous year. The operating profit before interest and depreciation is Rs.863.51 crore (Rs.1,043.20 crore). Interest charges are higher at Rs. 142.64 crore (Rs.112.15 crore). Depreciation stands at Rs.233.12 crore (Rs.203.32 crore). The profit before exceptional items is Rs.487.75 crore (Rs.727.73 crore). Foreign exchange translation difference has resulted in an exceptional gain of Rs.43.57 crore (against a loss of Rs.79.43 crore). The net profit after exceptional item stands at Rs.541.43 crore (Rs.648.30 crore). The provision for taxation is Rs.163.32 crore (Rs.181.45 crore). The provision for deferred tax is Rs.13.66 crore (Rs.29.89 crore). There is no provision for fringe benefit tax during the year under review (Rs.4. 78 crore). The profit after tax is lower at Rs.354.34 crore (Rs.432.18 crore). The board of directors has declared a dividend of 20 per cent for 2009-10.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, N. Srinivsan, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, said the company had to content with a lower net price realisation of during the year gone by. The average net price realisation was Rs. 2,754 a tonne, down from Rs. 3,056 a tonne in the previous year. The situation on the price front had improved in the fourth quarter somewhat, he said.
Though the domestic cement consumption grew by 12.8 per cent nationally, the growth was only 5.1 per cent in the South. Cement consumption grew by 11.1 per cent in Tamil Nadu, 6.6 per cent in Karnataka and 4.4 per cent in Kerala. However, Andhra Pradesh witnessed a negative growth of one per cent. This coupled with capacity additions in the region saw prices head down in the South. Prices had begun to recover since February this year, Mr. Srinivasan said.
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He said the company had to incur a higher cost on power as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were experiencing power cuts. This had forced the company to buy costly power from outside, he pointed out. On top of it, the royalty on limestone had been increased from Rs.45 to Rs. 63 a tonne. Also, the thermal plants in Tamil Nadu had increased the price of fly ash by Rs. 140 a tonne from October last. All these had put the company under cost pressure, he pointed out.
According to a company release, India Cements had raised Rs.295.62 crore through issue of 2,45,94,000 equity shares of Rs.10 each at a price of Rs.120.20 per share through QIP (qualified institutional placement) route to raise funds to meet the capex needs of the company.
Fielding a range of questions, Mr. Srinivasan said the company had completed formalities for obtaining the coal mining rights in Indonesia to meet the coal needs for power generation and also to make cement. According to him, India Cements would need 700 to 800 tonnes of coal annually to meet its internal requirements.
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Mr. Srinivasan also informed presspersons that India Cements would invest around Rs.800 crore over the next three years in capex. To a question, he said there was no scaling down of capex programme.
To a question, he said India Cements had just offloaded its ``insignificant minority holding’’ (around nine per cent) in Hyderabad-based Bharathi Cement Corporation Ltd. French major Vicat, it may be recalled, had recently announced the acquisition of 51 per cent stake in Bharathi Cement mainly through a reserved capital increase.