Ambuja Cements third-quarter profit dives 34 percent

(Reuters) - India's Ambuja Cements Ltd said on Tuesday its third-quarter profit plunged over 34.2 percent, largely missing analysts' estimates, on higher expenses.

Standalone net profit, which does not account for subsidiaries or associate firms, dropped to 1.79 billion rupees ($24.34 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, from 2.72 billion rupees a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Analysts on average had expected the cement manufacturer, which is a unit of the world's largest cement maker, LafargeHolcim Ltd, to post a profit of 2.68 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

"There were pressures on account of rising costs, especially for power and fuel, diesel, packing bags (impacted by increase in crude prices) coupled with volatility in the exchange rates," the company said.

Expenses in the quarter jumped 12.7 percent.

Cement sales volume rose to 5.46 million tonnes from 5.02 million tonnes a year earlier, the company said.

($1 = 73.5400 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)