Q4 Results: UltraTech Cement’s Profit More Than Doubles, Beats Estimates

UltraTech Cement Ltd.’s profit for the quarter-ended March more than doubled, surpassing analysts’ estimates.

Net profit rose 109 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,017.5 crore in the fourth quarter, the company said in a regulatory filing. That compares with the Rs 769.9-crore estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

• Revenue of the Aditya Birla Group flagship company jumped 18 percent to Rs 10,500.3 crore. Analysts expected Rs 10,277.6 crore.
• Operating margin rose to 21.1 percent year-on-year from 19 percent.

Operating profit rose 30 percent over last year to Rs 2,213.3 crore in the three-month period. The gain was attributed to lower logistic cost and relatively flat raw material costs even as realisation dropped 2 percent year-on-year.

Other Highlights
(Year-On-Year)

• Volumes rose 21 percent to 21.3 million tonnes.
• Logistic cost were down 2 percent to Rs 1,146 per tonne due to relaxation in axle load norms.
• Energy cost per tonne rose 7 percent.
• Realisation fell 2 percent to Rs 4,929 per tonne.
• Ebitda per tonne rose 8 percent to Rs 1,039.

The company’s board approved a dividend of Rs 11.5 per share.

Shares of India’s largest cement maker were trading 0.8 percent higher in late-afternoon trade after the earnings announcement compared with a 0.7 percent rise in the benchmark Nifty 50.