Coal news and updates

Ambuja Cements first quarter net profit drops 39%

April 29: Ambuja Cements Limited reported a 38.8% drop in its net profit in the January-March quarter (first quarter) of 2015 (the company’s financial year is at per with the calendar year) to Rs 318 crore against a net profit of Rs 520 crore earned in the same period of 2014, the company said in a filing to BSE on April 29.

“The quarter witnessed muted cement demand. The net sales turnover was lower by 8.1% (Rs 2,425 crore in the first quarter of 2015 compared to Rs 2,368 crore in the same quarter of 2014) mainly on account of a negative growth in sales volume by 9%,” said a company statement.

However, Ambuja Cements expects that emphasis on housing infrastructure development by the government is likely to push cement demand in the coming quarters, adding that the company will focus on further improving its performance.

During the quarter under review, the sales volume of the company stood at 5.35 million tons (mt) against 5.88 mt in the same quarter last year.

“Improved operational efficiencies restricted the impact of cost increase. However, the same could not be fully mitigated through price increase,” the statement said.

The company own Gare-Palma IV/8 in the recent coal block e–auction and said the capex for development of this coal mine is expected to be approximately Rs 370 core and mining operation is expected to be commence in 2018.

The following table gives financial results of Ambuja Cements Limited in FY15 and FY14 (in Rs crore)