Dalmia Bharat Ltd shares 1H24 results

Dalmia Bharat Ltd has shared its financial results for the first half of 2024, ended 30 June 2024. The installed cement capacity on this date was 45.6Mta. Sales volume saw a 6.2 per cent increase from 7Mt in the 1H23 to 7.4Mt in the 1H24. EBITDA was recorded at INR6.69bn (US$79.7m), marking a 9.2 per cent increase from the corresponding period the year previous. 

Puneet Dalmia, Dalmia Bharat's managing director and chief operating officer, said, “The continuity of the incumbent government at the centre ensures policy stability and a continued focus on infrastructure spending, which bodes well for cement sector’s long-term prospects, particularly cement demand. During the quarter, even though cement demand was weak across regions amidst general elections, our volumes grew 6.2 per cent YoY while margins improved to 18.5 per cent from 16.9 per cent last year.” 

Dharmender Tuteja, the company's chief financial officer, said, “The cement pricing continued to be weak during the quarter, but we saw a notable improvement in margins due to better input prices and reversal of certain cost inefficiencies of the previous quarter. We are progressing well on the long-term levers of margin improvement including investment in brand, renewable energy and operationalising captive coal mines […] we have added 2Mt of cement capacity in South and are on track to add another 2.9Mt in North East & East region during the financial year. Our strong balance sheet positions us well for the next phase of expansion.”

The long-term growth strategy of the company includes increasing the total capacity to between 110-130Mta by 2031. The company has entered into multiple renewable power agreements under the group captive, which will secure 127MW of renewable power through both solar and wind energy. The commissioning of these renewable power plants is expected to be in 2025-26, in line with the companies net-zero 2040 goal.