Highlights-

• The net sales during the third quarter ended December 2008 increased by 11% to Rs 404 crore as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
• The OPM margin was 25% during the quarter under review. The EBIDTA during the quarter hence fell by 4% to Rs 101 crore during the quarter ended December 2008 as compared to the same period last year.
• The net profit of the company during the quarter under review fell drastically by 79% to Rs 24 crore as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
• Although the realizations improved for both the sugar and the cement division by 28% and 11% respectively, the fall in net profit was due to loss in other income, rise in interest cost and higher power & fuel costs during the quarter under review.
• For the nine-month period ended December 2008, the revenue increased by 19% to Rs 1,268 crore, whereas the bottom-line corrected by 59% to Rs 114 crore.
• The company produced 7.11 lakh metric tonnes of cement whereas it sold 6.87 lakh metric tonnes of cement during the quarter ended December 2008 as compared to the same period last year.
• Cement production was impacted due to unplanned shut down of two kilns during the quarter.
• The net realization per tonnes of cement was Rs 3,891 per metric tonnes as compared to Rs 3,521 per metric tonnes during the corresponding quarter of the previous year. However due to increase in input cost the EBIDTA per tonnes fell to Rs 1,195 per metric tonnes as compared to Rs 1,532 per metric tonnes during the third quarter of the previous fiscal.
• The sugar production during the quarter under review was 50,193 metric tonnes and the integrated sugar sales during the quarter went up to 51,490 metric tonnes as compared to 43,890 metric tonnes during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
• The sugar realization during the quarter ended December 2008 improved significantly to Rs 17,112 per metric tonnes.
• The company crushed 5.91 lakh metric tonnes of cane at a recovery rate of 8.5%. Thus the recovery rate has reduced as compared to 9.8% during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
• The company sees a positive pricing scenario in sugar going forward.
• The clinker production in the Kadapa project in Andhra Pradesh started in December 2008. Thus the cement production from this plant will commence from the current quarter. This plant has an installed capacity of 2.5 million metric tonnes of cement. The total installed cement capacity of the company if 6.5 million metric tonnes.
• The 2.5 million metric tonnes- Ariyalur project in Tamil Nadu will get commissioned in June 2009. The company has incurred capital expenditure of Rs 1,268 crore till December 2008 on the above two projects. Additional Rs 400 crore of capex would be spent during the next fiscal year.
• The imported coal prices during the previous quarter was US$ 160 per metric tonnes, however it has corrected significantly to US$ 90 per metric tonnes currently.
• Although the input costs are falling, the company has high cost inventory which would be gone only by the end of the current fiscal. Thus the benefits of cost reduction will start accruing only from the beginning of the next fiscal.
• The gross debt in the company's book is around Rs 2,400 crores and the peak level debt would be around Rs 3,000 crore.
• The blending ratio in cement is 1.41.
• The company is also planning to put up 10 million metric tonnes of cement capacity in phases across the country. The company has already identified sites and reviewing the macroeconomic situation in the world and in India the company would decide on the expansion.
• The cash balance in the book is around 350 crore.
• The company has an investment book of Rs 277 crore, which are mainly invested in equity market. The net debt/equity is 1.6.
• Around 25 million metric tonnes of additional cement capacity is expected to come on stream in the country by the end of the current fiscal and in the South India market 16 million metric tonnes of cement capacity would come on stream during this same period.