Shree Cement Q1 Results: Marginal Rise In Profit, Revenue Dips By Nearly A Quarter

Shree Cement Ltd.’s quarterly profit rose even as the Covid-19 lockdown disrupted operations and sales.

The cement maker’s net profit rose 2.1% year-on-year to Rs 371 crore in the three months ended June, according to an exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 228-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

• Revenue was down 23.4% at Rs 2,326 crore, against the Rs 2,309-crore forecast.
• Operating profit fell 22.3% to Rs 700.6 crore.
• Margin widened to 30.1% from 29.7% earlier.

All economic activities, barring essential businesses, came to a standstill in April and most of May as India imposed the world’s harshest lockdown to contain the pandemic. That hurt cement sales. Though projects were allowed to resume in phases as India eased lockdown curbs, demand for cement is yet to reach pre-pandemic levels.

Shree Cement was able to offset some of the hit due to lower raw material costs. Petcoke prices, a key raw material used to produce cement, were 40% lower during the quarter. Cement prices had also started increasing from May as construction activities restarted. That, too, absorbed some of the impact.

Shares of Shree Cement rose 2.26% before the quarterly results were announced. That compares with a 0.4% gain in the benchmark BSE Sensex.