JKCEMENT — earnings call

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Prepared remarks

“JK Cement Limited Q1 FY-26 Earnings Conference Call” July 21, 2025

LIMITED · MODERATOR:

MR. PRASHANT SETH – PRESIDENT (BUSINESS INFORMATION & INVESTOR RELATIONS), JK CEMENT

Moderator · Conference Operator

MR. VAIBHAV AGARWAL – PHILLIPCAPITAL (INDIA) PRIVATE LIMITED JK Cement Limited July 21, 2025

Amit Murarka: · Okay. Thanks for the clarification there. And secondly, could you let us know what was the

Because the Q4 TPD still mentioned 3.3 and in this quarter only it was mentioned as 4 actually.

Okay fine because I think it was initially announced as 10,000 TPD is what I remember and even the Q4 TPD mentioned it as….

JK Cement Limited July 21, 2025

Okay.

Thanks for the clarification there.

And secondly, could you let us know what was the incentive booked in the quarter?

Okay.

So, I believe like last quarter it was mentioned as like 75 to 80 crores range.

So, the new booking of incentives have come up for even though volumes are lower QOQ.

Sure.

Could you help us understand like what are the various incentives and which plants basically are earning incentives right now and how long will they continue these incentives?

Sure, understood.

So, like Hamirpur also has it, right?

And Panna also and Ujjain also?

And given that these are newer units, so fair to assume that these incentives will continue for few more years?

Sure.

And lastly, just very quickly on other expenses, that was also quite low in the quarter.

So, like, could you help us understand what are the plan for marketing spends and all which are low

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation.

Will come back.

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Devesh Agarwal from IIFL Securities.

Please go ahead.

Devesh Agarwal

Thank you.

Firstly, congratulations sir, on a good set of numbers.

I just wanted to understand, firstly, what would be the regional breakup of volume, sales volumes for 1Q?

And finally, one last one, in terms of your post-Panna expansion, where do you see the next leg of expansion, the three places that you mentioned, Jaisalmer, Odisha and Karnataka, any progress that we have made and do we have visibility that next expansion will be taken at a particular location?

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Vishal Biraia from Bandhan Mutual Funds.

Please go ahead.

Vishal Biraia

I just wanted to confirm the clinker capacity at Panna after this expansion, we would be at about -- would that be the right number?

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Navin Sahadev from ICICI Securities.

Please go ahead.

in the quarter? · Management:

Good afternoon, sir and thank you for the opportunity.

Also, congratulations on a good set of numbers.

My first question was on volumes.

So, you said that central India has done much better.

So, is it that the industry itself has had fairly strong growth or we have expanded our dealer network much further to take care of the upcoming expansion, be it on the eastern part of the regions?

So, before the grinding units came up, have we already started feeding those markets was my question.

And before the next question, I just want clarification.

You mentioned after, because in the previous participant asked post expansion, what will be the total clinker capacity in Panna?

And Prashant sir said 7.3.

Shouldn't it be 8 because 4 is what we have already done with Line 1 and second line is 4.

So, it will be 8 million tons or am I missing something here?

Understood, that's clear.

And sir, you also mentioned potential of de-bottlenecking in South by about 0.7 to a million ton.

So, will it also be backed by some clinker de-bottlenecking there or it's more on the.....

Understood.

And sir, my last question, if I may.

Margin in white is what I wanted to just point out because I believe sequentially there has been a pretty sharp drop in the white cement realizations if I understand this correctly.

So, has it also led to a sharp margin decline in the segment and how should one then look at this segment given we are now looking at investing more capacity or more capital to put up a putty grinding unit in Nathdwara?

So, just one last question about the potential expansion plans.

Now, I understand there is a vision to reach up to 50 million tons and you highlighted that in similar calls in the past.

But with now our EBITDA averaging almost nearing to 3,000 crores or anywhere between 2,500 to 3,000 crores annually, will it be fair to say that we can handle two projects at a time?

Is the company really thinking on those lines that apart from one project, we can also look at having, not just doing one project at a time, but we can look at doing two projects at a time?

Is the company thinking on those lines so that growth can come in faster?

JK Cement Limited July 21, 2025

Yes, this is so great.

Thank you so much.

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Sanjeev Singh from Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited.

Please go ahead.

in the quarter? · Management:

Good afternoon, sir.

Thanks for the opportunity.

If we exclude the clicker volume in 1Q, so how was the cement realization movement compared to last quarter?

So, basically, I want to understand how have been the price movements in different markets where we operate and compared to 1Q, how have been the prices now?

And secondly, in this quarter, we have a spend closer to 350-400 crores in our CAPEX.

So, how should we look at full year numbers in FY26?

Will it be closer to 1,700 crores and also, if you can guide on FY27 numbers?

Thank you.

Got it, sir.

Thank you.

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Hrishikesh from Kotak Mutual Fund.

Please go ahead.

Hrishikesh

Good morning.

Is it possible to share consol gross debt and net debt?

JK Cement Limited July 21, 2025

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec Capital.

Please go ahead.

Ritesh Shah

Thank you for the opportunity.

A couple of questions.

Sir, can you give the total number for paints, grouts and adhesives?

And if you could break it up, that would be great, along with the EBITDA that we clocked in the last fiscal?

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

We take the next question from the line of Parvez Qazi from Nuvama Group.

Please go ahead.

Parvez Qazi

Good afternoon, sir and congratulations for the great set of numbers.

So, just two data specific questions.

What was our real share this quarter and also the fuel mix in Q1?

Thank you.

JK Cement Limited July 21, 2025

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Girija Shankaray from Yes Securities.

Please go ahead.

Girija Shankaray

Hi, good afternoon, sir.

Thanks for taking my question.

So, just wanted to check, you said, if we use imported gypsum, so that is going to increase your fly ash percentage and it will reduce your clinker consumptions, right?

So, as per the rules this time how much is the percentage of the fly ash in the total clinker consumptions?

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Shravan Shah from Dolat Capital.

Please go ahead.

Shravan Shah

Hi, sir.

First of all, congratulations on a great set of numbers.

Most of the questions were answered.

Couple of things to clarify.

So, first on the cost saving, what we talked about last time, Rs.

150 to 200 over the next 2 to 3 years.

And this year FY26 on an average, we were looking at Rs.

40 to 50 per ton.

So, that remains intact?

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Tejas Pradhan from Citigroup.

Please go ahead.

Tejas Pradhan

Hi, sir.

Could you share what would be the industry volume growth for the different regions you operate for the first quarter?

Because you mentioned North, there was some degrowth, right?

So, how would it be for like all the regions?

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies.

Please go ahead.

Prateek Kumar

Good afternoon, sir and congratulations.

My first question is on clarification on incentives.

So, based on the current index, around 300 crores kind of incentive is expected for next 3 to 5 years based on your expansion.

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from line of Rajesh Ravi from HDFC Securities.

Please go ahead.

Rajesh Ravi

Hi, sir.

Good afternoon.

Congrats on great set of numbers.

My first question is predominantly on this volume guidance, which you have given 20 million tons that remains or there is an upward bias given that the strong volume growth you have delivered in Q1?

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Alok Shah from SRE PMS.

Please go ahead.

Alok Shah

I just want to understand the reasons of increasing EBITDA by 20% this quarter and is this sustainable for the current fiscal year?

And secondly, that we have targeted for 75% of green power.

So, any guidance of EBITDA increase that we can expect giving percentage?

Can you just give a ballpark number?

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Rahil Shah from Crown Capital.

Please go ahead.

Rahil Shah

Hi.

Good afternoon.

My question is also pertaining to the EBITDA per ton, combined EBITDA per ton outlook, if you can share something on that.

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Siddharth Malhotra from Kotak Securities.

Please go ahead.

Siddharth Malhotra

So, just a quick question.

I read in our annual report that we signed an agreement with GMDC for 250 million tons of limestone reserves.

Could you just elaborate on our plans pertaining to that particular limestone?

Will that be used in some of our existing plants?

Do we plan some additional new plants in the western region perhaps?

What is our end goal for that 250 million tons?

JK Cement Limited July 21, 2025

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Parth Bhavsar from Investec.

Please go ahead.

Parth Bhavsar

Hi, sir.

Thank you for the opportunity.

So, I have just one question.

I wanted some color on non- trade demand.

So, if you see, even year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, non-trade share has increased for us.

So, I wanted a sense on demand of non-trade segment and also the pricing.

Like, has it been more stickier than trade segment or even the price hikes have been more higher than the trade segment?

Yes, a color on the non-trade segment.

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital.

Please go ahead.

Amit Murarka: · Okay. Thanks for the clarification there. And secondly, could you let us know what was the

So, just on the follow-up question on volumes, you mentioned that you are scaling up your volumes in Bihar as well.

And there is a new grinding unit of 3 million and that will come up.

So, will this new grinding unit have incentives as well, particularly as you have already scaled up decent volumes over there?

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, we take the last question from the line of Ritesh Shah from Investec Capital.

Please go ahead.

Ritesh Shah

So, just a quick one.

Would it be possible for you to quantify the trade and non-trade price gap in North, central and South?

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, we take that as the last question and conclude the question- and-answer session.

I now hand the conference over to Mr. Vaibhav Agarwal from PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited for closing comments.

Vaibhav Agarwal

Thank you.

On behalf of PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited we would like to thank the management of JK Cement for the call and also many thanks to the participants for joining the call.

Thank you very much, sir.

Ryan, you may now conclude the call.

Thank you.

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you, sir.

On behalf of PhillipCapital (India) Private Limited, that concludes this conference.

Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.

Questions and answers

Moderator · Conference Operator

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session.

The first question is from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital.

Please go ahead.

Amit Murarka: · Okay. Thanks for the clarification there. And secondly, could you let us know what was the

Good morning.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Firstly, on the Panna line, it was 3.3 million tons line.

I just wanted to understand like why and how did it expand to 4 million tons given that we are so close to commissioning?