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Birla Corporation a flagship company of the MP Birla Group, reported a two per cent decline in net profit at ₹128 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2019, as against ₹ 131 crore same period last year.
Revenue from operations grew by over 13 per cent at ₹1,873 crore for the quarter under review, as compared with ₹1,651 crore same period last year.
Net profit for the March 2019 quarter grew by 11 per cent on a year-on-year after adjusting for one-off deferred tax credit in the corresponding period of the previous year, said a press statement issued by the company.
The March quarter EBIDTA grew by 15 per cent to ₹ 334 crore (₹290 crore) on the back of “growth in sales and better realisation”.
For the year ended March 31, 2019, the company posted 66 per cent rise in net profit to ₹256 crore (₹154 crore). Net turnover increased by 10 per cent to ₹6,549 crore.
During FY19, the company saw a rise in the sale of premium products and blended cement. In the quarter till March, blended cement contributed to 92 per cent of its sales by volume.
Emphasis on cost rationalisation has helped the company partially offset the increase in fuel prices by improving energy-usage efficiencies in plants and economical sourcing of other raw materials such as fly-ash and gypsum. It has also been focussing on lowering logistics costs for both inward and outward movement.
“A significant achievement of the quarter has been a turnaround in the performance of the Chanderia unit despite low prices prevailing in the North markets by a series of cost reduction measures and marketing initiatives. The unit has enhanced its capability of mechanical mining, thereby reducing dependence on purchased limestone, which has resulted in significant savings in the cost of production,” said the release.
The company’s production units are currently operating at more than 90 per cent of their installed capacity. The benefits and synergies of RCCPL acquisition have now been fully assimilated.
Expansion projects
The company is in the process of setting up a 3.9-million-tonne integrated factory at Mukutban in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra. The factory, along with a 40-MW captive power plant, is estimated to cost ₹2,450 crore. The company expects to start the factory in 2021-22.
Birla Corporation is also expanding the capacity of its Kundanganj plant by 1.2 million tonnes.
The project is expected to be concluded in 2020-21. The company is ramping up production at its Sial Ghogri coal mine in Madhya Pradesh.
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