ACC
Very disappointing numbers. That’s the first thing which comes to mind when one see’s these first quarter ended 31st March 2014 ( 31st Dec year ending) numbers. Thanks to the other income of Rs.108 crore, which is mainly interest write back and a tax credit of Rs.13 crore, the company managed to salvage at least some of its bottomline, which otherwise would have come even more lower. The company ended the Q1, with a 9% drop in consolidated net profit at Rs.400 crore. The bottomline would have got beaten down further because its net sales was flat at Rs.2967 crore and then operating expenses rose 5%. EBITA was down 18% at Rs.286 crore. Operationally, poor demand and higher costs ate away the profits of ACC.
The company has stated that no improvement in pace of infra development and general consumption led to this performance. Its sales volume remained flat at 6.48 mtpa v/s 6.42 mtpa in previous Q1. Its manufacturing costs faced escalations in the cost of its major inputs - namely, coal, fly ash and gypsum. The company is not optimistic about the future and does not foresee any significant improvement in the cement market in the near term.