The Hindu Business Line : Binani Cement net zooms to Rs 54 cr

Mumbai, Jan. 21 Binani Cement Ltd (BCL) posted a 209 per cent jump in net profit for the quarter ended December 2007 at Rs 54 crore against Rs 17.45 crore clocked in the same period last year.

During the December quarter, the company has sold 88,295 tonnes of clinker and 6,67,873 tonnes of cement against 5,87,187 tonnes of cement in the same quarter last year. Net sales in the quarter under review stood at Rs 233 crore.

For nine months ended December, 2007, Binani Cement registered a net profit of Rs 152 crore, an increase of 117 per cent against Rs 70 crore in the same period last year. Net sales rose to Rs 643 crore (Rs 494 crore). The company’s stock on the BSE plunged 15 per cent to Rs 99.30, while Sensex shed over 1,400 points on Monday.

Fund raising

Mr Vinod Juneja, Deputy Managing Director, said, “the board of directors has approved rising of funds in foreign currency up to $125 million (Rs 485 crore) by way of FCCBs/GDRs/ADRs or any other instruments to inter-alia facilitate expansion of capacities and for overseas acquisitions subject to all the necessary approvals. The company is all set to shift gears and move ahead to expand its capacity to 10-12 mtpa in the next 2-3 years.”

Expansion

The kiln and cement grinding unit of the expansion project at Binanigram commenced commercial production from October 2, 2007 and December 6, 2007, respectively. Consequent to this the cement capacity has increased from 2.25 mtpa to 4.50 mtpa.

The spilt cement grinding unit for the expansion project which is under installation at Neem ka Thana in north Rajasthan is scheduled to be completed in the current quarter which will further increase the cement capacity to 6 mtpa.