Is JK Cement Eyeing Acquisitions For Expansion?: MD Raghavpat Singhania Gives Insights

  • last month
Transcript
00:00We have with us Mr. Raghupat Singhania, the MD of JK Cement with us today and welcome
00:06to the show, sir.
00:08How are you?
00:09How is your day?
00:10I am very well, Charu.
00:11Thank you for having me on your program.
00:13So this first question that we have for you today is when do you expect the cement prices
00:17to go up?
00:18See, that's a little hard to say because you see after an election generally it takes
00:25about 6 to 8 months for all the various work orders etc. to move out for things to really
00:35pick up but we hope that keeping in mind that the rains are nearly past us now and though
00:43the rains are a little late but I think that maybe from October onwards we should see some
00:50sort of a respite.
00:53Industry is kind of seeing an intense consolidation period, so are you open to inorganic expansion
01:00and I would also like to know if you have any potential acquisitions in mind?
01:04So we are open to it, I think Charu, see we have to realize that what is the situation
01:12of the balance sheet and based on that we can explore opportunities.
01:17At this point of time, I think the company is in a good position to explore smaller opportunities
01:23and then we can see how it goes but yes we are open, we are not against it.
01:32So another thing that I wanted to know is that the company is targeting the capacity
01:36of 30 MTPA by 2026, so at what level will the capacity be in financial year 2025 end?
01:45So currently we are at 24 million and it will remain 24 million till the Panna Line 2 doesn't
01:51start, Panna Line 2 is expected to start sometime FY26.
01:59So the kind of CAPEX that has been set for financial year 2025 and how is it being allocated,
02:05would you like to tell us something more on that?
02:09So actually when you are setting up a brownfield expansion, the expansion is over 18 to 24
02:17months, so the CAPEX is already allocated keeping that in mind, so it's roughly around
02:222000 crores, 2000 to 2500 crores over 2 years.
02:29So sir, the company has allocated the CAPEX of rupees 3700 crores for the financial year
02:35of 2025 to 26, so what kind of impact do you think it is going to have on debt?
02:40No, so the debt to EBITDA ratio will remain around 2, so we seem to be in a good situation
02:47and the CAPEX is being planned keeping in mind that there is Panna Line 2 as well as
02:55there will be a GU coming up in Bihar, so that is all a part and parcel of that CAPEX.
03:02So the company is also expecting to see a cost cut or cost saving of rupees 200 to 300
03:08on the prices, so how much of that, how much movement on that front can we expect in this
03:13financial year?
03:15So we are already achieving about 50 to 75 rupees this financial year and the rest we
03:24should see in the next coming 2 years.

Recommended