Shree Cement shares rally on capacity expansion plans

Shares of Shree Cement hit a high of Rs 31,469 in today’s session advancing as much as 2.6% or Rs 810 per share after investors gave a thumbs up to the board’s decision of expanding companies capacity.

The board of directors of the company has approved the setting up of an integrated cement plant at village Gothra in Nawalgarh Tehsil of Rajasthan and solar power plants at various locations to meet the captive requirement of the cement plants of the company, Shree Cement said in a filing on Tuesday.

The proposed plant will have a clinker capacity of 3.8 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and a cement capacity of upto 3.5 MTPA. The plant will be ready by the quarter ending March 2024, Shree Cement said in the regulatory filing. The project requires an investment of about Rs 3,500 crore, it added. The financing will be done through a mix of internal accruals and debt.

Further, the board approved to invest Rs 500 crore to set up solar power plants at its cement units at various locations and Rs 750 crore to set up a clinker grinding unit in the Purulia district of West Bengal by its wholly-owned subsidiary Shree Cement East.

The solar power plants having a capacity of up to 106 megawatts (MW) will meet the captive power requirement of the company’s cement plants at various locations. This project would be completed within the quarter ending September 2022, it added.

Separately, Shree Cement said: The board of directors of Shree Cement East Private Limited (SCEPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, today (Tuesday) approved the proposal for setting up of a clinker grinding unit at village Digha and Parbatpur, in Purulia district of West Bengal.

This will be financed mainly by way of equity contribution from Shree Cement. The project will be completed by the quarter ending March 2023, it added.

The cement demand-supply situation in West Bengal appears quite favourable and thus, investment in cement plant in the state would be a viable proposition, it added.

Meanwhile, the company said its existing cement capacity is 43.40 MTPA. During the year 2020-21, the utilization rate was 67%.

On a consolidated basis, the cement maker’s net profit surged 90.98% to Rs 630.89 crore on a 46.17% jump in net revenue from operations to Rs 3,634.83 crore in Q1 June 2021 (Q1 FY22) over Q1 June 2020 (Q1 FY21).

Shree Cement is one of India’s top three cement producers. Its portfolio of products includes Shree Jung Rodhak Cement, Bangur Cement, Roofon and Rockstrong Cement. It also has an installed power generation capacity of 752 megawatts which includes waste heat recovery power, solar power, wind power along with others.