UltraTech Cement Ltd on Monday surpassed Street estimates when it reported a 36 per cent rise in consolidated net profits for the quarter ended March 31, 2024.
Net profits of the country’s largest cement maker jumped to ₹2,258.12 crore compared with ₹1,665.95 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Analysts were expecting the company to report net profits of around ₹2,000 crore. The jump in its bottom line came after revenues grew to ₹20,418.94 crore from ₹18.662.38 crore in the year-ago period, a 9.41 per cent rise.
The stock markets reacted positively to the results, with the UltraTech Cement share rising 2.70 per cent or ₹262.05 to settle at ₹9,962.25 on the BSE. At close, the Aditya Birla group-company had a market cap of ₹2.87 lakh crore.
For the full year, consolidated net sales were up 12 per cent at ₹69,810 crore from ₹62,338 crore last year. On the other hand, its profit after tax was ₹7,005 crore, a jump of 38 per cent compared with ₹5,064 crore in 2022-23.
UltraTech added that it recorded a volume growth of 13 per cent during the fiscal, backed by 11 per cent during the fourth quarter.
The fiscal saw a drop in coal and pet coke prices. According to UltraTech, its imported fuel consumption cost during the fourth quarter was 13 per cent lower than the year-ago period and it remained flat on a sequential basis.
The company continues to deliver strong cash flows and during 2023-23, its net debt increased ₹77 crore after spending over ₹9,400 crore on capex.
At its meeting on Monday, the board of directors recommended a dividend of 700 per cent at the rate of ₹70 per share, aggregating ₹2,020.84 crore.
Commenting on the expansion plan, UltraTech said work on the second phase of the 22.6-million-tonne-capacity announced in June 2022 is under progress with capacities commissioned across several locations.
During the year, UltraTech added 13.27 million tonnes grey cement capacity across locations. It also commissioned new capacities at Karur, Tamil Nadu and Kukurdih, Chhattisgarh of 2.7 million tonnes each, aggregating to 5.4 million tonnes.
