Ambuja Cements eyes capacity expansion

Ambuja Cements Ltd is pursuing growth opportunities and evaluating plans including brownfield expansions at Bhatapara and Maratha to reach 50 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity.

It is also looking at significant debottlenecking opportunities across all plants, said Ambuja Cements, a subsidiary of Swiss building materials company LafargeHolcim, at its Annual General Meeting.

''The growth plans will be executed in mid-term for Ambuja to reach 50 MTPA cement capacity,'' it said in its 38th AGM, which was held virtually.

The meeting was chaired by Martin Kriegner, non-executive director of the company.

Ambuja Cements' upcoming facility in Marwar Mundwa, Rajasthan will enhance clinker capacity by 3 MTPA and help improve cement sales by 5 MTPA, contributing to the long-term strategy of capacity expansion.

''This greenfield integrated plant, at a total investment of Rs 2,350 crore, will commence operations by Q3 2021. Ambuja is evaluating brownfield expansions in Bhatapara and Maratha plants,'' it said.

Ambuja Cements, which follows January to December financial year cycle, had reported a growth of 17 per cent in its net profit at Rs 1,790 crore in 2020.

''During the year, Ambuja leveraged synergies with ACC to drive scale and performance. This synergy under the Master Supply Agreement with ACC led to more than 5 per cent contribution profit before tax in 2020,'' it said.

The board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 17 per share and has recommended a final dividend of Re 1 per share, which was approved by the shareholders in today's AGM.

''Thus, the aggregate dividend for the year is Rs 18 per share and the total pay-out will be Rs 3,574.16 crore,'' it said.