Coal news and updates

Ambuja Cements   today reported a healthy 77 percent growth in its standalone net profit at Rs 399.51 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016. The firm, which follows January-December as fiscal year, had clocked a net profit of Rs 226.35 crore in the year ago period, it said in a BSE filing. Total standalone income of the company, however, rose by just 2 percent to Rs 2,560.72 crore in April-June quarter of 2016 against Rs 2,508.27 crore during the same quarter of 2015. Total expenses of the company were lower at Rs 2,110.90 crore from Rs 2,272.99 crore during the period under review. Cement sales of Ambuja, however, declined by 2 percent to 5.76 million tonnes (MT) during the June quarter against 5.88 MT in the year-ago period. Ambuja Cements said that its Board has approved payment of interim dividend of Rs 1.60 per share. The dividend shall be paid on and from August 11, 2016. It also said that energy costs were lower by 27 per cent due to low fuel prices and increased usage of pet coke in kiln. Various cost optimisation initiatives resulted in reduction in freight and forwarding costs. Packaging costs were also lower due to reduced prices of PP granule. On outlook, the firm said post monsoon construction activities are likely to pick up. "The medium to long term outlook for cement demand remains positive considering above normal monsoon forecast this year and government's focus on housing, concrete roads, smart cities and infrastructure development," it added. The firm will continue to focus on improving operational efficiencies, it said. Market expert Prakash Diwan said there was a "clear pattern" emerging for large cement companies. "The numbers at the profit level have been encouring. They indicate that they will continue to be strong in the quarters ahead." He said input costs helped Ambuja numbers and added that once volumes picked up, cement stocks would get re-rated. Umesh Mehta of SAMCO Securities agreed, saying that volume expansion would give a fillip to cement stocks going ahead. The company's EBITDA/tonne at about Rs 1,000 were way ahead of Mehta's expectations of about Rs 800, he said. Mangesh Bhadang of Nirmal Bang said that Ambuja's EBITDA/tonne could continue to increase and that earnings too would be robust. Ravi Sodah, Research Analyst at Elara Capital was positive on the company's stock and said that the agency has a price target of Rs 1,780.

 

SOurce: Moneycontrol.com