UltraTech Cement Jul-Sep qtr net profit rises 25% at Rs 613.64 cr on lower expenses

UltraTech Cement on Monday reported a 25 percent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 613.64 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 on the back of lower expenses. The flagship firm of the Aditya Birla Group had clocked a consolidated net profit of Rs 490.59 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a filing to BSE.  However, the consolidated total income from operations declined to Rs 6,508.62 crore over Rs 6,669.45 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. The total expenses declined to Rs 5,624.16 crore, over Rs 5,972.39 crore in the year-ago period. In a statement, the company said that its net sales dropped to Rs 5,709 crore as against Rs 5,857 crore in the previous fiscal. In a presentation the company said that the “domestic sales volume impacted due to good monsoon.” “Profit before interest, depreciation and tax at Rs 1,378 crore was higher by 16 percent as compared to Rs 1,186 crore in the corresponding period of previous year,” it said. “Profit after tax rose 25 percent from Rs 491 crore to Rs 614 crore in Q2 FY17,” it said. On the outlook the company said that the government’s thrust on developing infrastructure spending, good monsoons, development of smart cities leading to the growth in the housing demand in tier1 and tier 2 cities, slower pace of new capacity addition augur well for the cement industry. UltraTech is well positioned across the country to meet the expected rise in demand and participate in the next phase of growth in the country, it said. On acquisition of 21.2 MTPA cement capacity, the company said in the result presentation that approval has been received from competition Commission of India (CCI) and added that court convened meeting for seeking approval from shareholders and creditors is scheduled for 20 October. The “transaction expected to complete in next 5-6 months,” it said.