JK Cement profits zoom on better sales, price realisation

CORPORATE SCORECARD

Improved sales coupled with better price realisation helped JK Cement to post a 274 per cent growth in net profit during the quarter ended March 31. The net sales rose 49 per cent during the same period.

"Our realisation during this quarter grew by Rs 700 a tonne and the percentage of blended cement production also increased substantially during the year from 40 per cent in FY05-06 to 54 per cent in FY06-07," A K Saraugi, chief financial officer said.

The country's second largest white cement maker scaled up its production by 11 per cent to meet the rising demand during the period. The company's net profit grew to Rs 61.4 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2007 from Rs 16.4 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Its net sales, during the period went up by 49 per cent to Rs 366.6 crore from Rs 245.9 crore.

The operating profit increased by 140 per cent at Rs 340 crore in the quarter compared with Rs 141 crore in the corresponding quarter. The earnings per share (EPS) stood at Rs 8.78 against Rs 2.98 last year.

For the year ended March 31, 2007, the company's net profit grew four-fold to Rs 178.6 crore from Rs 32.6 crore. The net sales for the year was Rs 1,233.3 crore, up 41.16 per cent, compared with Rs 873.7 crore last year.