Sri Lanka operations back to normal, no pending dues: UltraTech Cement

UltraTech Cement’s export volumes saw a sequential recovery in the March-23 ended quarter, owing to normalisation of operations in Sri Lanka, top executives from the company informed analysts. Further, the company also said it aims to increase its stake in the UAE-based RAK White Cement asset and make it a subsidiary in the current financial year.

“It’s almost normalised, and we have started getting back our volumes,” Atul Daga, executive director and chief financial officer for UltraTech told analysts in an earning call post March-23 ended quarter results. “At the peak of the problem time, we had almost Rs 250 crore outstanding from Lanka; everything, the last penny has been received, volumes have started picking up. The economies started picking up. So our exports are also going up,” Daga added.

For FY22-23, UltraTech reported full-year exports at 0.5 million tonnes, 43 percent lower than a year ago. For the March-23 ended quarter, the company exported 0.2 million tonnes, down 17 percent year on year, but up 50 percent sequentially. The majority of UltraTech’s exports are to Sri Lanka, which fell to almost nil at the start of FY22-23 owing to the political instability in the island country.

RAK White Cement