India Cements is currently the top loser on the BSE, slipping almost 8% to Rs.199 levels and continues to remain deep in the red.

The market is obviously extremely disappointed with the company’s performance for Q1FY18. Its net profit dropped by a big 41% (YoY) to Rs.26 crore and this is almost half of all estimates, which were around Rs.50 crore.

Topline did grow – it was up 22% at Rs.1462 crore but a 26% increase in costs, led by higher raw material  costs, employee benefits costs, depreciation, power & fuel, transportation; all together impacted EBITDA, which was down 7.5% at rs.186 crore. Margins slipped from 16.7% to 12.7%.