 "Ambuja Cements")
Ambuja Cements, now part of the Adani Group, on Friday reported a fall of 94.24 per cent in its consolidated net profit at Rs 51.30 crore for the September quarter, mainly due to rising fuel prices and related inflationary impact.
The company had clocked a net profit of Rs 890.67 crore in the year-ago quarter, Ambuja Cements said in a BSE filing.
Its revenue from operations rose 7.46 per cent to Rs 7,143.17 crore as compared to Rs 6,647.13 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.
Total expenses were at Rs 7,179.90 crore, up 29.51 per cent from Rs 5,543.51 crore a year ago.
The consolidated results of Ambuja Cements includes the financial performance of its step-down firm ACC Ltd, in which it owns around 51 per cent stake.
On a standalone basis, Ambuja Cements reported a decline of 68.74 per cent in its net profit to Rs 137.89 crore as against Rs 441.23 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Its standalone revenue from operations climbed 13.37 per cent to Rs 3,670.40 crore, as against Rs 3,237.26 crore earlier.
Sales volume on a standalone basis was up 12.33 per cent to 6.74 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from 6 MTPA.
On a consolidated basis, its sales volume increased 5.63 per cent to 12.57 MTPA in the July-September period.
Ambuja Cements CEO Ajay Kapur said, "Cement industry has been facing significant margin pressure resulting from steep rise in global energy prices."
"However, recent cooling off in energy prices and post-monsoon demand pick up appears like a silver lining for coming quarters. Ambuja has embarked upon a transformational journey to gain both scale and market leadership, with focused efforts on ramping up capacity, and margin expansion," he added.
On September 15, 2022, Endeavour Trade and Investment Ltd, an entity of the Adani family, acquired shareholding of Holcim Group and consequently, its board was reconstituted.
"The Company, with effect from 16th September 2022, has terminated its agreement with Holcim Technology Limited for payment of technology and know-how fees at the rate of 1 per cent of eligible net sales," it said.
On October 18, Ambuja Cements allotted 47.74 crore warrants to Harmonia Trade and Investment Ltd, an entity of the Adani family, and has received Rs 5,000.15 crore, equivalent to 25 per cent of the warrants' issue price.
"By taking advantage of the scope and resources of the Adani Group, we aim to expand more quickly and with greater impact to gain leadership position in the Cement industry," said Kapur.
He added that with the equity infusion by the promoter group in the company, its expansion program will gather pace in the coming time.
"Considering the promise we made to double our manufacturing capacity over the next five years, our growth plans are ambitious, and this will be evident in 2023. While cost pressures have not gone away, our growth plans remain strong," said Kapur.
Shares of Ambuja Cements on Friday settled at Rs 512.25 on the BSE, down 1.02 per cent from the previous close.
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