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UltraTech Cement’s Q1 net profit drops 6%

July 21: UltraTech Cement Limited, the Aditya Birla Group flagship, reported a nearly 6% drop in net profit for the April-June quarter of 2014-15 to Rs 628 crore against Rs 669 crore reported in the same quarter of the previous fiscal, the company said in a statement on July 19, mainly on higher input costs and lower market prices.

During the first quarter of 2014-15, the company’s net sales increased nearly 14% to Rs 5,989 crore compared to Rs 5,272 crore reported in the same period of the last financial year.

“During the quarter, domestic cement sales volumes improved by 14% over the corresponding period of 2013-14, However, prices continued to remain under pressure. Variable costs increased by 3% mainly on account of increased prices of pet coke and input material,” a company statement said.

During the quarter, the company acquired the Gujarat unit of Jaypee Cement and, with this, the annual cement capacity of the company reached 58.8 million tons (mt) in India.

Following are the Q1 results of UltraTech Cement Limited in 2013-14 and 2012-13 (in Rs crore):