India’s UltraTech Cement, part of the Aditya Birla Group, has reported a strong performance in the 4QFY24, ended 31 March 2024. Consolidated net sales for the three-month period came in at INR200,690m (US$2.4bn), marking a nine per cent advance YoY, while profit after tax advanced 36 per cent YoY to INR22,580m.
For the full year 2024, the company reported a 12 per cent improvement in consolidated net sales to INR698,100m. Profit after tax came in at INR70,050m, up 38 per cent YoY, while volumes saw growth of 13 per cent compared to the previous year. EBITDA also reached the milestone of over US$1.5bn. During FY24 net debt increased by just INR770m after spending more than INR94,000m on capex - indicative of the strong cashflows generated by the business, according to the company.
The effective utilisation rate for the 4QFY24 stood at 98 per cent, and 85 per cent for the full year. The 4Q also saw an additional 156MW of solar power capacity added, taking the company’s total solar power capacity to 612MW. According to UltraTech, 23.6 per cent of its power requirements are now met through green power sources.
In terms of cement production capacity, FY24 saw the company expand to over 150Mta after adding 13.27Mta of grey cement production capacity across various locations. Ongoing expansion plans involving 36.2Mta of capacity, along with the proposed acquisition of Kesoram Cement, will boost UltraTech’s total capacity to 199.6Mta, including its overseas capacity of 5.4Mta.
