India Cements clocks 4Q standalone net at Rs 35.27 Cr

India Cements Ltd today clocked a marginal increase in the standalone net profits at Rs 35.27 crore for the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2018.

It had reported standalone net profits of Rs 34.28 crore in the same period last year, company Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, N Srinivasan said here.

Standalone net profits for the full year ending March 31, 2018 slipped to Rs 100.62 crore from Rs 173.35 crore registered in the corresponding period last year, he said.

"The performance of the company was lower than that of the previous year, mainly on account of increase in cost of production caused by various factors like teething troubles arising out of GST roll out and ban on sand mining in several states. Our net plant realisation was marginally lower", he told reporters.

With a lower net plant realisation and increase in variable costs, the EBIDTA was at Rs 722 crore for the financial year ending March 31, 2018 compared to Rs 869 crore recorded in previous year, a company official said.

Stating that the overall volume for the year under review was 11.17 million tonnes, Srinivasan said it was marginally higher than 11.04 mill tonnes clocked last fiscal.

Standalone total income for the quarter dropped to Rs 1,401.73 crore from Rs 1,524.29 crore registered during the same period the previous year, he said.

For the full year ending March 31, 2018 standalone total income dipped to Rs 5,360.13 crore from Rs 5,794.03 crore registered during the year ago period.

Srinivasan said the cement industry was under pressure for the whole of last financial year and despite that the volume picked up for the company.

"In the second half (October 2017-March 2018) period, demand picked up from states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In the fourth quarter our plant utilisation was 79 per cent", he said.

On the outlook for the current fiscal,Srinivasan expected that demand for cement would continue and the company hopes to run the factories at a "better capacity utilisation".

"From now on, every successive quarter you will see some improvement. By January next year, prices (of cement per bag) may go up", he said.

Srinivasan said despite Tamil Nadu being a major market for cement manufacturers, the state saw sluggish growth due to restrictions on sand mining and lack of any governmental projects.

To a query about the drop in total income, a company official later said excise duty was "subsumed" under Goods and Service Tax following introduction of GST from July 1, 2017.

The Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of Rs 0.80 per equity share of Rs 10 each for the last fiscal.