Pakistan: Thatta Cement captive power plant comes online

Pakistan cement manufacturer, Thatta Cement Company Limited (TCCL), has informed Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) recently that its subsidiary, Thatta Power Limited (TPPL), has successfully started its captive power plant’s commercial production of power. TPPL has already contributed 13MW to Hyderabad Electric Supply Company Ltd (HESCO).

Muhammad Taha Hamdani, CFO & Company Secretary, Thatta Cement Company, informed CemNet that apart from supplying electricity to the power utility, TCCL will also be the beneficiary of power resources generated by TPPL.

This will bring benefits to TCCL in terms of cost efficiencies and cost reduction opportunities, especially in reducing the substantial incremental power costs
of re-starting the TCCL’s plant due to frequent power breakdowns which in turn ensure uninterrupted power supply to the cement plant of TCCL.

TCCL is confident that as a result of cost efficiencies, the reduction in fuel and power costs shall translate into positive financial performance of
the company, he remarked.

During the first quarter ended September 2012, the company’s capacity utilisation of the plant during the quarter remained at 62.60 per cent, which was comparable to the level of 62.89 per cent during the corresponding period a year earlier. The Company was able to increase local dispatches of cement to 85,251t as compared to 59,212t during the corresponding quarter, reflecting an increase of 43.98 per cent. No cement exports were made during the quarter, compared to 23,553t exports recorded during the corresponding quarter a year earlier, due to a strategic shift in the company’s sales mix.

The company earned a profit after tax of PKR23.85m compared to a loss of PKR15.35m in the quarter ended September, 2011.