Mirroring the price and demand weakness in the sector, Ambuja Cements reported a 42.5 per cent year on year (Y-o-Y) slump in its consolidated net profit (attributable to the owners of the company) for the second quarter of the current financial year (Q2FY25), largely owing to muted growth in revenue.
For the quarter under review, Ambuja Cements reported a net profit of Rs 456 crore, lower than Rs 793 crore reported a year ago. Net sales for the Adani group-promoted entity saw a marginal 1.2 per cent Y-o-Y rise in its revenue to Rs 7,516 crore in the same period.
Sales volume in the reported period, the company said, was up nine per cent Y-o-Y to 14.2 million tonnes.
In a poll, 16 analysts estimated revenue of Rs 7,171 crore and a net profit of Rs 509.6 crore. The company missed the Street estimates.
“This performance is supported by healthy volume growth, increasing scale of operations, value extraction of acquired assets, enhanced cost leadership, improved operational efficiencies, and group synergies,” the company said.
“With our strong foothold across the nation, we are further expanding our footprint in new geographies, in line with our vision. After the successful completion of the Orient Cement transaction, we are poised to achieve 100+ MTPA capacity by this financial year-end,” said Ajay Kapur, whole-time director & chief executive officer (CEO), Ambuja Cements.
Ebitda was at Rs 780 per tonne and margins at 14.8 per cent, the company said. Ebitda is earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation.
“Strong infrastructure demand and ongoing needs from the housing and commercial sectors are anticipated to boost cement demand in H2FY25. We expect demand during FY25 to grow in the range of 4-5 per cent,” said the company in its outlook for the sector.
