UltraTech Cement, India’s largest cement producer, posted a 32.30% fall in consolidated net profit at ₹1,666 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, impacted by a rise in energy and raw material costs.
The Aditya Birla group company had posted a net profit of ₹2,461 crore for the same quarter of the previous fiscal. A consensus estimate by Bloomberg analysts expected the firm to post a consolidated net profit of ₹1,792 crore on revenues of ₹18,499 crore.
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For the quarter under review, UltraTech Cement’s revenue from operations stood at ₹18,662.38 crore, compared with ₹15,767.28 crore recorded during the comparable year-ago period, it said in a stock exchange update.
The cement manufacturer’s energy costs rose 17% on a year-on-year basis, which was 4% lower on a quarter-on-quarter basis. The prices of pet coke and coal rose 18% y-o-y, while raw material cost was up 9% y-o-y on account of increase in cost of fly ash, slag and gypsum among others.
The company’s board has recommended a dividend of ₹38 per share totalling ₹1,097.01 crore.
For the full year ended March 31, 2023, the firm posted a net profit of Rs 5,064 crore, compared with the normalised profit of Rs 5,667 crore (one-time gain of ₹1,518 crore in the previous fiscal) recorded in FY22. For FY23, the company’s consolidated net sales jumped 21% to ₹62,338 crore (₹51,708 crore in last fiscal).
In FY23, UltraTech’s production, dispatches and sales rose to 100 million tonne. “This was backed by an effective capacity utilisation of 95% in Q4 and 84% capacity utilisation for the year,” the company said.
The firm commissioned 12.4 million tonne per annum (MTPA) of additional capacity of grey cement in FY23. It also commissioned a 2.2 MTPA brownfield cement capacity at Patliputra in April, while the work on its next phase of growth of 22.6 MTPA has already commenced.
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Commercial production from these new capacities is expected to go on stream in a phased manner by FY25/FY26, and upon completion of this expansion, the company’s capacity will rise to 160.45 MTPA, reinforcing its position as the largest cement company in India and third-largest in the world, outside of China.
On Friday, UltraTech Cement’s shares closed marginally up by 0.71% at ₹7,554.60 on the BSE.