ACC Q3 net halves on lower realisations

October 24, 2013 12:28 am | Updated November 17, 2021 04:42 am IST

Sluggish market conditions and lower realisations impacted cement major ACC, which reported halving of its net profit for the third quarter of 2013 ended September 2013 at Rs.119 crore against Rs.241.9 crore in the year-ago period

Although sales volume during the period were marginally higher at 5.54 million tonnes (5.4 million tonnes), sales turnover was Rs.2,508.65 crore (Rs.2,542.37 crore).

Operating profit during the quarter declined to Rs.286.56 crore (Rs.466.07 crore) and profit before tax to Rs.167.78 crore (Rs.350.3 crore).

“Overall, the macro environment continued to be dull and characterised by slow industrial and agricultural growth, rising prices and volatile foreign exchange rates,” ACC said in a statement.

The company said work on the ongoing Jamul expansion project was progressing well, and work had also commenced at the Sindri site.

“While the extended monsoon is expected to have a favourable impact on the agricultural sector in the coming months, we foresee a gradual but slow improvement in demand for cement and in the overall economy which may need some more time to recover,” the statement said.

Ambuja Cement

Ambuja Cement reported a 45 per cent decline in net profit for the third quarter of 2013-14 at Rs.166 crore against Rs.304 crore in the year-ago period.

Despite a marginally higher sales volume of 4.89 million tonnes (4.79 million tonnes), net sales for the quarter declined by 7.4 per cent to Rs.2,005 crore while operating profit declined by 49 per cent to Rs.268 crore (Rs.522 crore).

“The cement industry is going through a subdued demand on account of overall economic slowdown,” Onne van der Weijde, Managing Director, said in a statement. “Lower realisation and higher logistics cost impacted profitability. The outlook continues to remain challenging due to difficult macro-economic condition and resultant subdued demand.’’

The company commissioned a bulk packing terminal of 1 million tonne capacity at Mangalore, Karnataka. On the BSE, the Ambuja Cement stock moved up by 0.25 per cent to close at Rs.196.65.

Ramco Cements

The profitability of Ramco Cements (formerly Madras Cements) has been adversely impacted due to a steep fall in cement prices and a glut in demand in Kerala and Karnataka due to above average rainfall. The net profit for the three months ended September 30, 2013, has declined sharply to Rs. 18.27 crore from Rs. 132.89 crore in the same period in the previous year. Revenue during the period under reference has also dropped to Rs.922.91 crore from Rs. 996.94 crore.

The company has stated in a statement that generation of power from the wind farm in Tamil Nadu was affected due to restrictions imposed by TANGEDCO in evacuating the power. The fall in generation was approximately six crore units when compared with the same period in the previous year, even though the machine availability improved by 3 per cent. The monetary impact of this was Rs. 20 crore, the company said.

Coromandel Intl

Coromandel International, a fertiliser and pesticides manufacturing firm, has posted around 30 per cent drop in its net profit during the second quarter of the current financial year. The consolidated net profit stood at Rs.164.49 crore against Rs.237.68 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Total sales turnover, however, saw a 20 per cent rise to Rs.3,215.39 crore from Rs.2,675.18 crore.

During the first half of the year, the company registered a total sales turnover of Rs.5,113.07 crore against Rs.4,529.72 crore in the same period of the previous year. But the net profit fell to Rs.188.97 crore from Rs.351.9 crore.

Announcing the results, Managing Director Kapil Mehan attributed the drop in net profit to income on account of subsidy and the tax advantages that the company had during the previous fiscal.

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