India Cements Q4 standalone net loss widens to ₹218 crore on input costs, impairment charges

With increased sales, India Cements Ltd. will achieve break even next quarter, says Vice Chairman and Managing Director N. Srinivasan.

The India Cements Ltd, (ICL) reported standalone net loss for the quarter-ended March widened to ₹218 crore from ₹24 crore on account of rise in input costs and write off of one-time impairment of certain investments and advances worth ₹114 crore.

Revenue from operations grew marginally from ₹1,392 crore to ₹1,460 crore, while cost of materials consumed increased by 7% to ₹259 crore .Clinker production rose 8% to 72.98 lakh tonnes while overall sales rose to 98.93 lakh tonnes (90.70 lakh tonnes), it said in a regulatory filing.

“The company’s performance was adversely impacted by the increase in the cost of fuel and power and by one off impairment charges,” said vice chairman and MD, N. Srinivasan.

“These two major factors together with reduction in blended cement proportion increased the cost of production by more than ₹840 per tonne, while net plant realisation improved hardly by ₹208 per tonne resulting in substantial erosion of the margins,” he said.

According to him, the cost per Kcal of fuel increased from around ₹1.85 to ₹2.90 and average rate of power from ₹5.20 per KWH to ₹7.04 per KWH.

Mr. Srinivasan said that ICL had a basket of plants of various vintage and technologies with varying operating parameters and hence, the cost of production, compared with many of the peers, were higher.

ICL had hired two consultants to refurbish the cement plants in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The consultants have submitted their reports and it was being evaluated.

Going forward, ICL plans to improve the liquidity in the short term by selling surplus land parcels. It is on the verge of monetising about 600 acre of surplus land in Tirunelveli and it was not a ‘distress’ sale, he said.

“We are taking steps to reduce the variable costs and the debt this fiscal. We have a total outstanding debt of ₹2,900 crore and plans are on to repay ₹500 crore this year,” he said.

“We are in difficult times and finding resources were a major constraint. With the completion of monetisation, we will be in a much better position,” he said.

On the outlook for FY24, he said that they expected a better performance. “With increased sales, we will achieve break-even next quarter. This is without any price rise.”

After a gap of several years, ICL skipped paying dividend for FY23.