Gujarat Ambuja net profits

Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd, India's fourth largest cement maker, reported a 1.3 per cent drop in quarterly profit on Friday as a result of sluggish prices in its key market. The company, which has about a 14 per cent stake in rival Associated Cement Companies Ltd, said net profit in its fiscal second quarter ended December 31 was Rs 595.4 million compared with Rs 603.2 million a year earlier. Total income was Rs 4.44 billion. A drop in domestic cement prices in the past quarter was the sharpest in western India, Ambuja's biggest market, as Sanghi Industries Ltd's long-delayed 2.6 million tonne-a-year plant began production in Gujarat, analysts said.