JK Lakshmi Cement soars 11% on strong March quarter results

The company's profit before tax more than doubled to Rs 131 crore in Q4, against Rs 57.4 crore in the previous year quarter.

Shares of JK Lakshmi Cement soared 11 per cent to Rs 221 on the BSE on Thursday on the back of heavy volumes after it reported a more-than-double profit before tax (PBT) at Rs 131 crore for March quarter (Q4FY20), on the back of strong operational performance. It had PBT of Rs 57.40 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

The company’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) during the quarter rose 51.6 per cent to Rs 224.5 crore against Rs 148.1 crore in the year-ago quarter. EBITDA margin improved to 21.1 per cent from 12.63 per cent in Q4FY19.

The management said the company's concerted efforts in improving product mix, market optimisation, enhancing the premium products sales, reduction in logistic costs and improvement in plant efficiency parameters enabled Company to post better returns. The softening of pet coke prices also helped it to improve its margins, it added.

The company’s sales at Rs 1,061 crore in the quarter were lower as compared to Rs 1,172 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous year because of the lockdown in the last 10 days of the month.

At 11:01 am, JK Lakshmi Cement was trading 6 per cent higher at Rs 212 on the BSE, as compared to a 0.76 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter more than doubled with a combined 1.5 million equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE.