Dalmia Bharat sees new assets boosting volumes soon; Profit falls 50%

MUMBAI: Dalmia Bharat’s recently acquired assets in central India are likely to contribute “meaningfully” to its overall volumes from the third quarter of this fiscal, its senior management said on Friday.

The fourth-largest producer of cement in the country acquired the cement assets of Jaiprakash Associates from the Adani Group in May, adding over 5 million tonne of capacity. It has commenced operations at the Chunar grinding unit, and started a trial production run at Rewa within 50 days on the acquisition, the management said.

“This asset also offers meaningful opportunity for de-bottlenecking and brownfield expansions,” managing director Puneet Dalmia said on a call post the company’s quarterly earnings. “It is a great strategic fit for Dalmia, as it strengthens our presence in a key growth market and marks another important step in our journey towards becoming a truly pan-India company,” he said.


The acquired assets, along with the company’s ongoing expansions will help it reach an annual production capacity of 66.7 million tonne by the third quarter of fiscal 2028.

For the June quarter, Dalmia Bharat’s consolidated profit halved year-on-year to Rs 192 crore weighed down by higher costs and an exceptional loss, even as sales volume and revenues grew compared to a year ago. The company has recognised an exceptional loss of Rs 182 crore, primarily related to the costs of its recent acquisition.

Its volumes grew 9% on year during the quarter to 7.6 million tonnes, while revenue from operations rose 7% on year to Rs 3,890 crore. Consolidated total expenses for the quarter rose at a faster pace, growing nearly 13% on year to Rs 3,593 crore. Of this, fuel costs rose more than 13% to Rs 644 crore. As a result, consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization fell nearly 9% on year to Rs 805 crore.

The operating profit made on each tonne of cement fell more than 16% compared to the previous year, while net sales realisations on each tonne of cement fell to Rs 5,098, down 2% from a year ago.

The management expects the EBITDA per tonne of the acquired assets to be on par with Dalmia Bharat in about seven-eight quarters, they said.

CFO APPOINTMENT

Yatin Malhotra has been appointed as the chief financial officer of the company, as current CFO Dharmender Tuteja will be superannuating from the services of the company on Jul 31.