Orient Cement Q1 net profit down 20% at Rs 27.89 crore

Orient Cement Limited has reported a 20% decline in net profit at Rs 27.89 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 on the back of fall in revenues. The total income from operations decreased 8.69% to Rs 349.40 crore as compared with Rs 382.65 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Deepak Khetrapal, managing director and chief executive officer, Orient Cement said, "Q1FY16 has been a difficult quarter for the industry, with markets in West and North struggling to register any demand momentum. Low demand and low capacity utilisation has put further pressure on the prices. We continue to focus on cost optimization and increasing our efficiency in power and fuel consumption, freight cost etc. The Karnataka Government has granted us the mining lease for our upcoming greenfield facility in Gulbarga which is now being prepared for commissioning within the next 4-6 weeks."

Shrenik Gujrathi, senior research analyst from Angel Broking, said the numbers were below their expectation. The de-growth in top line was mainly on the back of sharp decline in realisation. However,the EBITDA margin were stable at 17%, up 30 basis points, mainly due to lower raw material and power and fuel expenses, according to him.

The year on year volume de-drew by 10% and the price realisation from the preceding quarter has dropped by over 8% largely caused by drop in Maharashtra volumes and realisation. The net EBITDA for the quarter is down 10% compared to same quarter last year, according to the company.