ACC Oct-Dec net rises 18% to Rs 326 crore on tax benefits

Buoyed by tax benefits and higher income, cement maker ACC today reported 18.31% rise in consolidated net profit for October-December quarter at Rs 326.22 crore.

The company, which follows January-December period as its accounting year, had posted Rs 275.71 crore net profit after taxes, minority interest and share of profit of the associates in the same quarter last fiscal.

In a statement, ACC said its Board has recommended a dividend of Rs 19 per share aggregating to Rs 428.04 crore. It had in July paid an interim dividend of Rs 15 per share.

Taking the two, the total dividend outgo for the year would be Rs 757.52 crore, including tax.

Though ACC's income went up during the reporting quarter, bottomline received a boost from tax benefits for the nation's second-largest cement firm.

During the reporting quarter, ACC received Rs 184.35 crore tax gains vis-a-vis Rs 35.85 crore tax benefits a year ago.

But for the benefits, ACC's profit before tax would have gone down to Rs 139.93 crore as compared to Rs 237.23 crore a year ago.

"Tax expense is net of credit relating to earlier days, Rs 309.23 crore for the year ended December 31, 2014 (Rs 216.74 crore for the previous year) and Rs 196.47 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 (Rs 75.91 crore for the corresponding quarter," the company said.

Total income of the company increased to Rs 2,837 crore during the quarter from Rs 2,786 crore a year ago. Expenses also went up to Rs 2,727 crore from Rs 2,580 crore.

Consolidated profit after tax for entire 2014 rose to Rs 1,162 crore from Rs 1,095 crore a year earlier.

Net sales rose to Rs 11,480 crore from Rs 10,889 crore.

The company sold 24.21 million tonnes of cement during the quarter as compared to 23.93 million tonnes in 2013.

In the outlook, ACC expects modest but steady revival of the Indian economy in current year which would lead to some improving trends in all sectors of the economy.

"The infrastructure, housing and construction sectors are expected to register faster growth in the near term with a positive impact on demand for cement," it said.