Reducing Construction Waste

Pioneering Research To Reduce Construction Waste

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Innovate UK, has made a grant to researchers of The University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), in developing a path-breaking project that could dramatically reduce the quantity of rubble from demolished buildings that goes to landfill sites.

Currently between 30% – 40%  of landfill in the UK originates from the construction sector through construction waste and demolition waste.

Researchers  believe that it will allow businesses to make savings on the purchase of new materials, thereby also shaving 10% off total construction costs.

More in detail on this project in the link below.

Reducing Construction Waste

Ambuja Cements Q3 Results

Ambuja Cements Posts Poor Q3 Results Down 35 % on Net Profit

Ambuja Cement, which Swiss building material major Holcim has a majority stake posted its Q3 results.

Ambuja Cement's Net profit comes at Rs.154 crore, against Rs.226 crore over the same period last year, a decline of 35.6 %.
Ambuja Cement's Sales volume comes at 4.82 million tonnes, against 4.67 million tonnes over the same period last year, a growth of 3.2 % per cent.
Ambuja Cement's Net sales comes at Rs.2,095 crore, against Rs.2,189 crore over the same period last year, a decline of 4.3 %.
Ambuja Cement's cement production comes at 4.82 million tonnes, against 4.67 million tonnes over the same period last year, a growth of 3 %.
Ambuja Cement's standalone income comes at Rs.2,110.87 crore, against Rs.2,202.06 crore over the same period last year, a decline of 4 %.
Ambuja Cement's total expenses comes at Rs.1,956 crore, against Rs.1,938.80 crore over the same period last year, a marginal increase.

Ambuja Cements follows the January-December accounting year.

Adapted from newspaper reports by Stewart D'Rozario

ACC Cement Posts Q3 Results

ACC Cement Posts Poor Performance in Q3 Results

ACC Cement's consolidated net profit fell 40.2% for the September 2015 quarter.

Consolidated net profit for Q3 September 2015 was Rs 115.21 crore, a fall of 40.2% over corresponding period last year.
Total income for Q3 September 2015 was Rs 2808.29 crore, a fall of 1.5% over corresponding period last year.
Operating EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization) for Q3 September 2015 was Rs 313.20 crore, a fall of 17.37% over corresponding period last year.
Cement sales volume for Q3 September 2015 was 5.61 million tonnes, a fall of 0.17% over corresponding period last year.

ACC Cement stated that while sales realization was almost flat, there was a reduction in input and energy costs. ACC Cement further stated that the cement industry witnessed weak offtake of cement in Q3 September 2015 due to subdued construction activity in most of the monsoon season. As a result, the company's cement volumes were correspondingly flat and selling prices were subdued.

ACC in its outlook for the future stated that the pace of economic revival so far had been slower than expected. In the coming few quarters, the company expects trends such as the recent cut in interest rates, softening of energy prices, control of inflation and government's concerted efforts to stimulate investment across several sectors will have a favourable impact on improving the overall economic environment in the country. This can help provide an impetus to construction activity that in turn would open up more opportunities for the growth of cement industry.

UltraTech Cement Sales Up 4%

UltraTech Cement Reports Cement Sales Up 4% and Profit Down 4% for Q2

Aditya Birla Group's UltraTech Cement, on a standalone basis reports for the September quarter:

Profits at Rs.394 crore as against Rs.410 crore for the corresponding period last year, down by 4%.
Sales at Rs.5621 crore as against Rs.5379 crore for the corresponding period last year, up by 4%.

The consolidated figures for the September quarter are a three per cent increase in net profit at ₹427 crore as against ₹414 crore for the corresponding period last year. Sales were up four per cent at ₹5,951 crore as against ₹5,720 crorefor the corresponding period last year.

The combined cement and clinker sales were up marginally at 11.51 MT as against 11.17 MT, while that of white cement and wall putty increased to 3.22 lakh tonnes as against 2.99 lakh tonnes.

During the September quarter, the company commissioned 1.6 MPTA cement grinding unit at Jhajjar in Haryana and 1.6 MPTA cement grinding unit at Dankuni in West Bengal. With this the cement capacity increased to approx. 65 MPTA. The company also commissioned a 2 MPTA cement bulk terminal in the rural area of Pune, Maharashtra.

Stewart D'Rozario, Cement Consultant from newspaper reports.

Regional Cement Market Growth

Cement Sales - North-Eastern Region Expected To Out-Perform Others

The Indian cement industry is peaking based on increased infrastructure spending / planned spending by the government. Northeast India with its characteristic of better leverage to public spending trends than its other regional counterparts, is likely to be a major beneficiary of higher government spending.

Economy and infrastructure experts, expect the country's GDP growth to revive on the back of investment on infrastructure. Cement demand growth will in turn revive on the back of demand from such sectors, including roads, railways and urban infrastructure. The assumption is that cement / GDP growth multiplier will go back to levels of 1.2 leading to cement demand growth of 7% / 8% in FY16 and FY17 respectively.

The Indian Northeast region is more leveraged to public spending trends than any other region in India. With increased investment in infrastructure by the government and various projects already in the pipeline, the Indian northeast region should be the highest cement volumes growth region in the country. The actual size of the Northeast cement market in terms of cement volumes might not be significant compared with the total cement market size of the country, but for cement companies who have a sizeable market share and major regional cement players, this region's high growth should help it outgrow peers in cement volumes.

UltraTech, Ambuja, Dalmia as well as Birla Corp. are expected to enhance cement market shares in this region and out-perform peers.

More on Regional Cement Sales Volumes Growth