UltraTech Cement, an Aditya Birla Group company, has reported a 38 per cent fall in consolidated net profit, at ₹796 crore in the June quarter, against ₹1,281 crore in the same period last year, due to a sharp fall in demand and production due to the Covid pandemic.

Revenue from operations was down 33 per cent at ₹7,634 crore (against ₹11,420 crore). The company had made a provision of ₹157 crore towards an unfavourable verdict from the Supreme Court over the capital investment subsidy availed of under the Rajasthan Investment Promotion Scheme -2003.

Production volume dipped 22 per cent at 13.94 million tonne (against 17.86 mt), while Ebitda was up 12 per cent at ₹1,651 a tonne (against ₹1,478 a tonne). The logistics cost was down 5 per cent to ₹1,116 a tonne, while energy and raw material costs dropped 11 per cent and 2 per cent to ₹913 a tonne and ₹477 a tonne.

Net debt was down at ₹14,651 crore (₹16,860 crore) on prudent working capital management and control on cash flows. The company has repaid ₹6,000 crore debt in the past nine months.

The company’s plan to divest 92.5 per cent stake in its Chinese subsidiary for $120 million is expected to be completed by August-end. It is in the process of selling of other non-core assets to deleverage balance sheet further.

Some encouraging trends were seen during the latter part of May, driven largely by better-than-expected pick-up in cement consumption in the rural markets, said the company.

The company said it was focussed on conserving cash and overhead control programme to cut fixed costs by 21 per cent to tackle the effect of the Covid-induced economic slowdown.

comment COMMENT NOW