The Ramco Cements Ltd has reported a marginal drop in its net profit at ₹95 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2019 when compared with ₹101 crore in the year-ago period.

The company’s revenue (net of GST) was higher at ₹1,286 crore when compared with ₹1,217 crore in the year-ago period on higher cement sales, which stood at 28.44 lakh tonnes as against 27.47 lakh tonnes. Its operating profit fell to ₹211 crore when compared with ₹221 crore.

“The market during the third quarter was generally sluggish due to extended monsoon in all our core markets and long festival holidays. Further softening of the prices added to the problem,” said AV dharmakrishnan, CEO, Ramco Cements. He added that the demand and prices have begun to pick up this quarter and the market outlook for the fourth quarter looks positive.

Operating cost continues to remain under control in view of favourable prices of fuels such as pet coke, diesel in the current quarter. For the 9-month period ended December 31, 2019, net profit grew 33 per cent at ₹455 crore as against ₹341 crore in the year-ago period. Total revenues grew to ₹4,004 crore when compared with ₹3,631 crore.

With export growth of 21 per cent, the sale of cement stood at 8.27 million tonnes as compared to 7.83 million tonnes during the nine-month period of previous fiscal.

Expansion projects

The company commissioned its expanded (to 2MTPA) grinding unit in Kolaghat, West Bengal in September 2019. New grinding unit in Haridaspur, Odisha with a capacity of 0.9 MTPA and expanded grinding unit (from 0.95 MTPA to 2 MTPA) near Visakhapatnam are expected to be commissioned in March this year. Capacity expansion in other locations are also on and are expected to be completed in 12-14 months.

As of December, the company had spent ₹1,837 crore on its ongoing capacity expansion. It has planned a total investment of ₹3,530 crore for expansion across units.

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