UltraTech Cement Q4 Results: Profit Jumps Threefold On Tax Reversal

UltraTech Cement Ltd.’s quarterly profit surged threefold on account of a deferred tax reversal.

The cement maker’s net profit stood at Rs 3,242.8 crore in the quarter ended March compared with Rs 1,084.04 crore a year ago, according to an exchange filing. That compared with the Rs 702.3-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg. The bottom line was aided by a Rs 2,024-crore deferred tax reversal, the filing said.

Its revenue, however, fell 13.1 percent year-on-year to Rs 10,745.6 crore as the first few days of the nationwide lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic ate into the company’s business. The analysts had pegged the revenue at Rs 10,818.6 crore.

The company’s earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 3.9 percent to Rs 2,442.7 crore, while Ebitda margin expanded to 22.7 percent from 20.5 percent. The improvement in operational performance came as fuel prices and logistic costs fell.

Debt & Capex Plans

The company lowered its debt to Rs 16,860 crore as of March 2020 from Rs 22,111 crore a year ago. That was aided by a consistent improvement in working capital.

It has also earmarked a lower capex of Rs 1,000 crore for the ongoing financial year compared with Rs 1,604 crore spent in the fiscal ended March 31, 2020.

Shares of UltraTech Cement shares rose 3.07 percent to Rs 3,545.00 apiece on the BSE, while the benchmark Sensex gained 2.06 percent to end the day at 30,818.61 points. The quarterly results were declared during market hours.