NE BUSINESS BUREAU
CHENNAI, NOV 1
India Cements Ltd on Wednesday reported a standalone net loss of ₹81 crore for the second quarter ended September 2023. The company had posted a net loss of ₹137.6 crore during the July-September quarter of the previous fiscal.
- The performance of the company was better than that of earlier quarters turning out a marginally positive EBITDA despite the restricted operations caused by the stressed working capital position
- During the second quarter, it had repaid ₹140 crore. This had reduced the outstanding debt to ₹2,807 crore from ₹2,947 crore as of June 2023: Vice Chairman and Managing Director N Srinivasan.
The Chennai-based cement manufacturing company’s revenue from operations was down 2.6% at ₹1,222 crore in the second quarter of this fiscal. The same stood at ₹1,254.6 crore a year ago, the company said in a release.
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The company is continuing its efforts towards the disposal of non-core assets and other means to raise funds for the refurbishment of the plants to improve efficiency and also to augment working capital needs.
“Today, after several quarters, we have turned EBITDA (earnings before interest depreciation taxes and amortisation) positive of ₹14 crore against negative EBITDA of ₹87 crore despite the restricted operations caused by the stressed working capital position,” said Vice Chairman and Managing Director N Srinivasan.
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There was an immediate need for a working capital of ₹250 crore, he said, adding that ICL started to recover the advances given to group companies to increase capacity utilisation and augment cash flow. This year, the firm had recovered about ₹115 crore.
Though ICL had entered into binding agreement for sale of 73.75 acres of land in AP for ₹42.81 crore, the profit on sale had not been recognised in Q2 primarily due to the condition that the land had to be converted into industrial land from the current classification, Srinivasan said. “We have found that the sale of lands takes time due to various reasons. Therefore, we looked at other options and started recovering advances given to group companies,” he added.
According to him, ICL has been regularly honouring its commitment on term loan repayment. During the second quarter, it had repaid ₹140 crore. This had reduced the outstanding debt to ₹2,807 crore from ₹2,947 crore as of June 2023.
The Board has appointed VM Mohan as an Additional Director with effect from November 1, 2023, Krishna Srivastava as a Non-executive Independent Director of the company for three years with effect from today.
It has also approved the reappointment of Krishnan Skandan as a Non-executive Independent Director of the company for a second and final term of three years with effect from January 27, 2024.
Also, Sanjay Shantilal Patel has been reappointed as a non-executive Independent Director of the company for a second and final term of three years with effect from April 3, 2024.
