Cement maker ACC today reported an over 25 per cent dip in consolidated net profit at Rs 349.47 crore in its second quarter ended June as expenditure, mostly on raw material, increased.
The company, in which Swiss major Holcim holds a majority stake, reported a net profit of Rs 470.96 crore in the year-ago period, ACC said in a communique to the exchanges.
Though the net sales of the company during the reporting quarter remained almost stable vis-a-vis the corresponding quarter, the total expenditure shot up to Rs 1,720.53 crore from Rs 1,546.74 crore a year ago.
The company said that the rise in expenditure was mainly due to the increased cost of raw material and "other" items, which were up by 83.39 crore and Rs 69 crore respectively to Rs 374.88 crore and 471.8 crore over the previous year.
ACC, however, did not elaborate on the "other" expenditure.
Net sales of the cement major was 2,166.88 crore in the April-June quarter, against Rs 2,188.2 crore in the same quarter of the previous year.
Volume-wise, sales dipped by 2.8 per cent in the quarter at 5.27 million tonnes, from 5.42 million tonnes in the year ago period due to inadequate supply of railway wagons.
ACC's standalone net profit also dipped to Rs 359 crore from Rs 486 crore in the same quarter last year. Ditto for net sales, which again fell from Rs 2,081 crore to Rs 2,021 crore.
ACC said that prices are under "stress" as a result of new capacity addition and arrival of the monsoon.
"However, we expect the industry to continue to traverse a positive trend in terms of overall growth in the foreseeable future," the company added.
Meanwhile, in a separate communique, ACC said that its board has accepted the resignation of its managing director, Sumit Banerjee, who will relinquish the post on August 14.
The company had, on June 30, informed the stock exchanges that Banerjee had submitted his resignation to the company and the board would consider the same in a board meeting scheduled for July.
