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UltraTech Cement Q3 net profit drops 38.43%

January 22: UltraTech Cement Limited, the Aditya Birla Group flagship, reported a 38.43% drop in net profit at Rs 370 crore for the third quarter (Q3) ended December 2013, against Rs 601 crore recorded in the same quarter a year ago.

During the period under review, the company's net sales too dropped by 1.46% to Rs 4,786 crore compared to Rs 4,857 crore recorded in the corresponding period of 2012-13.

For the first nine months (April-December) of 2013-14, net profit of the company stood at Rs 1,306 crore.

The company said that results for the quarter were impacted by lower selling prices due to subdued demand despite cost-optimisation measures, increased input and logistics costs.

The company expects demand to grow almost 8% on a long-term basis, mainly driven by housing and infrastructure spending. For the short term, however, the outlook would remain challenging, the company said in a statement.

Following are the Q3 results of UltraTech Cement Limited in 2013-14 and 2012-13 (in Rs crore):