ACC, a leading cement maker, has been hit hard during the June quarter due to negative volume growth and lesser price realisation.
The company, part of the Swiss cement giant, Holcim, posted a decline of 25.8 per cent in its consolidated net profit for the April-June period at Rs 349.5 crore, compared with Rs 471 crore in the previous corresponding quarter.
Consolidated net sales were Rs 2,166.9 crore, marginally down by one per cent from last year.
Despite having a capacity of 27.1 million tonnes per annum, it could sell only 5.27 million tonnes (mt) during the June quarter, against 5.42 mt last year. “Overall despatches and sales were adversely affected as a result of constraints in the uninterrupted and adequate supply of railway wagons and critical raw materials such as slag and fly ash at several plants, as well as delays in the stabilisation of recently commissioned new cement projects,” said ACC in a statement today.
In the current year, ACC has added around 4 mt so far and another 3 mt is expected to go on stream by December.
The input costs on raw materials rose by 28.65 per cent to Rs 374.9 crore from Rs 291.4 crore last year. Its expenses on power and fuel, too, climbed 5.2 per cent to Rs 396.35 crore, against Rs 376.7 crore.
Earnings per share stood at Rs 18.61 for the June quarter against Rs 25.09 last year during the same period.
In its outlook, the company said significant new capacity has been added in the industry in the past six months, particularly in the southern region. This, coupled with the onset of monsoon, has caused some stress in the market, especially in prices.
“However, we expect the industry will continue to traverse a positive trend in terms of overall growth in the foreseeable future,” said its statement.
On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company’s shares closed weak on Thursday at Rs 816, down 1.1 per cent.
