Ambuja Cement’s Strategic Plan To Expand Capacity
The 38th Annual General Meeting of Ambuja Cements Ltd. was conducted virtually with Martin Kriegner, Non-Executive Director of the Company, chairing the meeting. The Chairman mentioned that Ambuja Cement is strongly progressing to become the ‘Most Innovative, Sustainable and Competitive Building Solutions Company in India’. Ambuja Cement has a robust road map to become the best in the industry with strategic priorities structured under key levers of Growth, Competitiveness, Innovation & Digitalisation, and Sustainability. Ambuja Cement has ambitious growth plans to increase capacities and capture market growth in India. Its upcoming facility in Marwar Mundwa, Rajasthan will enhance clinker capacity by 3 MTPA and help improve cement sales by 5 MTPA, contributing to long-term strategy of capacity expansion. This Greenfield integrated plant, at a total investment of Rs. 2350 crores, will commence operations by Q3 2021. Ambuja is evaluating brownfield expansions in Bhatapara and Maratha plants. It is also looking at significant debottlenecking opportunities across all plants. The growth plans will be executed in mid-term for Ambuja to reach 50 MTPA cement capacity. Ambuja’s Operating EBITDA grew by 23% to Rs. 2,647 crores and Net Profit grew by 17% to Rs. 1,790 crores in 2020. Operating EBITDA and Net Profit margin for the year stood at 23.7% and 16% respectively, reporting a growth of 480 basis points and 260 basis points, over 2019. This strong performance was delivered through several cost management and efficiency initiatives. 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% contribution Profit Before Tax in 2020. Ambuja Cement has a robust balance sheet with zero debt and an AAA rating from Crisil. During the year, Ambuja has launched its special product, ‘Ambuja Kawach’, which is a sustainable water-repellent cement and reduces carbon footprint by 33%, in comparison to other products. Its special product volume has recorded a strong double-digit growth of 16% in 2020 and now comprises 11% of its total volumes. Ambuja is strongly committed to enhance business efficiencies by leveraging Digitalisation. The key focus of the year was on implementing digital tools in various parts of operations to enhance performance. The main initiative was the ‘Plants of Tomorrow’ program which records and reports data from all assets on a real time basis helping improve operational efficiency. On logistics front, Artificial Intelligence powered supply chain management platform ‘Blue Yonder’ was initiated, and ‘Transport Analytics Center’ adopted from parent LafargeHolcim. Ambuja has also increased its digital engagement with customers and channel partners.