India Cements has reported a net loss of about ₹17 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2023, when compared with a profit of ₹91 crore in the year-ago period.
However, the company’s net loss was significantly lower when compared with the September 2023 quarter net loss of ₹.81 crore.
There was an exceptional income of ₹26 crore in the December 2023 quarter on account of profit on the sale of a ship, year, while in the year-ago period, there was an extraordinary item representing the profit on investments of ₹294 crore (land sale at Madhya Pradesh). After tax adjustments, the loss was ₹17 crore for Q3 of this fiscal.
The company said better sales realization for its cement and improved operating performance, aided by a reduction in variable cost on account of lower fuel price and improved blending ratio, also helped pare the losses in Q3.
It reported a positive of EBIDTA ₹66 crore for the December 2023 quarter as against a negative EBIDTA of ₹66 crore in the year-ago quarter.
India Cements made a cash profit of ₹6 crore for the third quarter. Together with the exceptional income, the company made a cash profit of ₹32 crore for the December quarter despite the reduction in volume caused by the liquidity crunch, according to a company statement.
The capacity utilisation of the company was muted on account of stressed working capital conditions and it stood at 51 per cent in the 3rd quarter when compared with 56 per cent in the same quarter of the previous year and 61 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal.
The cement and clinker volume was lower by nine per cent at 19.85 lakh tonnes as against 21.82 lakh tonnes in Q3 of the previous fiscal.
The company is also in the process of raising funds to improve the efficiency of the plants and for augmenting the working capital needs.
For the nine months ended December 31, 2023, the overall volume including clinker was at 70.21 lakh tonnes(71.08 tonnes a year ago). The EBIDTA before extraordinary items for the ninemonths was positive at ₹92 crore when compared to a negative EBIDTA of ₹114 crore in the same period the previous year.