UltraTech first quarter hit by building slowdown

UltraTech Cement, India's largest cement producer, posted a 13.5 per cent YoY decline in its first quarter (April-June 2013), due to slowdown in home building and infrastructure projects.

The Aditya Birla group company reported standalone profit of INR6.73bn (US$112.3m) for the April-June quarter. Net sales also declined 2.2 per cent to INR49.58bn.

Going forward, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the group, said the business outlook remained challenging and the company has downwardly revised its growth expectations. "Despite adverse market conditions, the company has done well. We foresee cement demand growth to be about six per cent this fiscal. However, it is likely to be over eight per cent in the long term," he said.

UltraTech said it has earmarked INR137bn in capital expenditure to ramp up capacity by 10Mt by 2015 to 64.45Mt.