Deccan Cements Q4 net up 37%

"The company has achieved remarkable operational efficiencies in fuel and power consumption, resulting in a better contribution towards our top line and bottom line," MB Raju, chairman of Deccan Cements, told mediapersons here on Friday.

For the full year, the company's net profit touched Rs 47.96 crore, an increase of 68.75 per cent over last year's Rs 28.42 crore, while total income was up 22.24 per cent to Rs 212.25 crore (Rs 173.62 crore).

Raju said the company had embarked on a Rs 432-crore capital expenditure plan, which involves expanding the production capacity at its existing facility in Nalgonda district, setting up an 18 mw captive thermal power plant to cater to cement manufacturing, besides putting up a railway siding to reinforce its infrastructure in cement despatches as well as inward materials like coal, slag and gypsum.

"We are adding 1.3 million tonne capacity to the existing 0.7 million tonne, with special emphasis on blended cements, ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and specialty cements. The brownfield expansion will be commissioned in August and commercial production would begin in September this year, with an additional 500,000 tonne to start with," he said, adding the company was funding the expansion through Rs 150-crore internal accruals and the rest through term loans.

He said the captive thermal power plant, which was expected to be commissioned by this year end, would take the company's aggregate generating capacity to 27.5 mw. It currently has 4.5 mw hydel power and 5 mw windpower plants in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

"We require around 22 mw for captive use and the surplus will be earmarked for merchant sales," Raju said.