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Ambuja Cements today reported a 45.4% drop in net profit for the July-September quarter at Rs 166 crore due to lower realisations and higher logistics costs.
The company had clocked Rs 304 crore net profit in the corresponding period last fiscal, it said in a statement.
"The cement industry is going through subdued demand on account of overall economic slowdown. Lower realisation and higher logistics cost impacted profitability," the company said.
Operating EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation) was down by 48.7% at Rs 268 crore during the period.
Freight costs went up by around Rs 40 crore to Rs 400 crore compared to a year-ago period.
Sales turnover of the company was also down by 7.4% to Rs 2,005 crore from Rs 2,165 crore a year ago.
Ambuja Cements sold 4.89 million tonnes of cement during the quarter compared to 4.79 million tonnes a year ago.
"The outlook continues to remain challenging due to difficult macro-economic condition and resultant subdued demand. The company will continue working on improving efficiencies. It has also been able to cap its production cost increase to about 4.5% quarter on quarter," it said.
Shares of the company closed at Rs 196.65, up 0.25% on the BSE.
