UltraTech profit up to Rs 127cr

BS 200 Scorecard

UltraTech Cement, a part of the Aditya Birla group, has reported a net profit of Rs 127.44 crore in the second quarter ended September 2006 against Rs 80 lakh in the corresponding period of the last financial year.

Sales grew by 57 per cent to Rs 1,004.54 crore against Rs 639.98 crore in the corresponding period last year. Total expenditure during the period went up by nearly 30 per cent from Rs 574.95 crore to Rs 750.05 crore. The company saw a marginal increase in interest payment from Rs 22.40 crore to Rs 23.74 crore.

Earnings per share stood at Rs 10.24 at the end of the September quarter from Rs 0.01 in the year-ago period.

However, results of the quarter ended September 2006 are not comparable with the year-ago period because of merger of Narmada Cements with UltraTech, effective from October 1, 2005.

UltraTech has earmarked an investment of Rs 2,700 crore for the next three years. The investment will scale up the production capacity by 4.5 million tonne per annum (tpa) from the existing 17 tpa. The company is also setting up power plants in Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.