The Indian LafargeHolcim subsidiary ACC Ltd has reported an 8.4 per cent increase in cement deliveries for 2018 to 28.44Mt, while in the fourth quarter the advance was of a similar magnitude to 7.5Mt. The turnover advanced by 12.1 per cent to INR144.77bn (EUR1774m) while EBITDA were up by 10.8 per cent to INR29.12bn (EUR260m) but the pretax profit rose by 20.6 per cent to INR15.8bn (EUR194m) and thanks to writing back tax provisions relating to earlier years of INR5.01bn, the net profit shot up by 64.4 per cent to INR15.21bn (EUR186m). The ready-mixed concrete volume for the year was 16.6 per cent ahead at 3.16m³, helped by the commissioning of 18 new plants during the year.
For the final quarter of 2018, ACC has announced a 256 per cent YoY surge in net profit to INR73.2bn. However, this included a INR50.1bn tax write-off. Net sales of the company grew by 10.8 per cent to INR37.89bn, compared with INR34.17bn of the year-ago period. Operating EBITDA increased 15 per cent to INR5.11bn.
The cement capacity was increased by 5.9Mta thanks to a new greenfield operation in Madhya Pradesh and a new grinding plant in Uttar Pradesh as well as expansions at the operations in Tikaria and Sindri.
"We are excited to continue this growth momentum as we add new cement capacities of 5.9Mt through a greenfield integrated cement plant at Ametha in Madhya Pradesh, with a grinding unit in Uttar Pradesh and expansion of our Tikaria and Sindri plants," said Neeraj Akhoury, MD and CEO.
