Southern demand boosts India Cements
India Cements has posted a net profit of Rs 117.32 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2006, against Rs 5.85 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.
N Srinivasan, vice chairman and managing director, said the record jump in the profit came on the back of improved cement prices propelled by buoyancy in demand in the southern market and through improved cost-control measures.
While the buoyancy in cement demand continued with an all-India growth of 9.2 per cent in domestic consumption, The demand for cement in the south was upbeat with a growth rate of 10.5 per cent during the first half of this fiscal.
Operating profit was Rs 173.40 crore on a turnover of of Rs 590.67 crore for the quarter ended September 30 against Rs 68.87 crore operating profit on a turnover of Rs 466.52 crore in the same period previous fiscal.
For the half year ended September 30, net profit was Rs 229.91 crore against a net profit of Rs 11.06 crore in the same period previous fiscal. Turnover was up by 25 per cent to Rs 1152.49 crore from Rs 918.61 crore. Sale of cement was 37.35 lakh tonne compared with 36.17 lakh tonne.
Srinivasan said gross price realisation was Rs 3117 a tonne during second quarter of 2006-07 compared with Rs 2,448 a tonne for the same period last year. During the first quarter of this fiscal, it was Rs 3020 per tonne.
He also said India Cements was having better margins on lower price realisation compared with others. The company’s accumulated losses have been reduced to Rs 30 crore at the end of September from about Rs 150 crore at the end of first quarter of this fiscal.
Srinivasan also said the company had taken up upgradation of its units and modernisation of one of its plants at an estimated cost of about Rs 300 crore and on completion of projects will add 2 million tonne of cement capacity. These projects are expected to be completed between July and December 2007.
Published under Cement News
