Ambuja Cements Posts Strong Standalone EBITDA Growth of 35% at Rs. 962 Cr

Ahmedabad: Ambuja Cements, the cement and building material company of Adani Cement and part of the diversified Adani Group, today announced the financial results for the quarter and full year ending March 31, 2023 (15 months). Synonymous with Strength, the Company has reinforced beyond the product through its stronger financial performance led by excellence in operations, cost efficiencies and business synergies.

Operational Highlights (Standalone):

• Sustained volume growth supported by an increase in blended cement (clinker factor reduced from 62.5% to 60.6%), better route planning and higher operational synergies with its subsidiary, ACC. Market leadership strongly maintained across key markets.
• Kiln fuel cost reduced by 10% from Rs. 2.33 per ‘000 Kcal to 2.10 per ’000 KCal with change in coal basket, group synergies on coal procurement. Fuel cost to be further optimized in future.
• Warehouse infrastructure also optimized. Direct despatch improved from 64% to 78%, rail co-efficient increased from 26% to 30%, higher dispatches through rail. These measures are expected to reduce logistics cost.
• WHRS projects at Marwar, Bhatapara and Rauri have been commissioned for 33 MW. WHRS projects at Suli, Ambujanagar and Maratha for 48 MW are under implementation & progressing well.

Financial Highlights (standalone):

• Net Revenue up by 3% QoQ at Rs. 4,256 Cr. EBITDA rose by 35% at Rs. 962 Cr. EBITDA margin expanded from 17.3% to 22.6%. The growth in revenue is despite the adverse impact on volumes from halting of the operations at the Himachal Pradesh plants for 50 days
• Cost reduced by Rs. 228 PMT and expected to further reduce on cost optimization and leveraging synergies from adjacency businesses of the group.
• Business excellence initiatives are expected to further bring down operating cost, reduce clinker factor, reduce logistics cost, improve sales of blended cement and expand EBITDA margin.
• Improvement in Working Capital, Treasury Income increased by Rs. 23 Cr QoQ

Mr. Ajay Kapur, Whole Time Director & CEO, Ambuja Cements said, “We are pleased to report another strong performance of Ambuja Cement which has been driven by our strategic initiatives on business excellence, operational efficiencies and synergies. Our focus on operational excellence and cost optimisation measures has yielded improved profitability. We have been able to maintain our growth trajectory and further strengthen our position in the market. With the rise in construction activities across our markets, we see the continuation of the elevated demand and strong volumes in the coming quarters as well. On the ESG front, we continue to transform lives of the community around us and are consistently focussed on sustainability in all our operational and growth planning. We continue to reduce our carbon footprint by lowering the clinker factor, reducing thermal and electrical energy intensity, implementing Waste Heat Recovery Systems at our plants and increasing our use of and capacity of generating renewable energy. We, at Ambuja, remain committed to delivering sustainable growth and value to our stakeholders, and we are confident that our ongoing investments in capacity expansion and sustainability will enable us to achieve our long-term objectives.”

The Company has changed its financial year end from December to March. Therefore, the figure for the current year is for fifteen months and not comparable with the figures for the previous twelve months year ended December 31, 2021.

Dividend

With this stellar performance & considering our growth plans, the Board of Directors have recommended a dividend on equity shares of Rs 2.50 per share (125%)

Outlook

We are encouraged by the Government’s increased spending on infrastructure development, particularly roads, railways, affordable housing and other schemes as announced in the recent Union Budget.  We are optimistic and maintain a positive outlook that the government’s timely and pro-active measures will open more opportunities for the cement sector, that will stimulate cement demand and enhance economic growth.