This was an industry wide phenomena- despite lower price realisations, better operating efficiencies helped boost the bottomline. Unlike Ultratech which showed a jump in volumes, ACC, like Ambuja showed a drop in sales volume but its fall was very sharp – over 9% fall at 6.36 mtpa while realizations slumped 8%. Consolidated net sales were up 1.5% (YoY) at Rs.2927 crore and once again lower costs came to the rescue to shore up the bottomline’s a bit. Though EBITDA a Rs.433 crore was down 29%, this was mainly because EBITDA of Q2CY16 included Rs.140 crore as accruals from a sales tax incentive. Even if we remove this accrual, EBITDA falls short – coming in 8% lower.

The company ended the quarter with a consolidated net profit at Rs.227 crore, down 4%. Its standalone net profit though showed a 82% jump at Rs.238 crore but usually, for all analysis purposes, it is the consolidated performance which is always considered. The worry is that, seasonally Q3 will be weak on account of monsoon and even when Q2 was supposed to a good quarter, its performance slipped. The only good news here – CY15 was not good and that gives it’s a lower base effect thus it could still end CY16 on a higher note. Its H1CY16 consolidated net profit at Rs.466 crore, is already 79% of CY15 net profit of Rs.588 crore.