Indian cement maker ACC's profits fall as higher expenses offset strong volumes

ACC

28/01/2026 09:44

Jan 28 (Reuters) - India's ACC ACC.NS reported lower quarterly profit on Wednesday, as higher costs eclipsed strong growth in volumes.

Profit after tax halved on a year-on-year basis to 5.41 billion rupees ($58.95 million) during the October-December period, down by half from 10.89 billion rupees last year.

However, revenue rose nearly 22% to 63.67 billion rupees, led by 15.3% growth in sales volumes. Analysts were expecting volume to grow in the range of 7%-13%, per estimates from four brokerages.

The cement maker's expenses rose 19% to 60.78 billion rupees.

For further earnings highlights, click here. [FULL STORY]

KEY CONTEXT

The Indian government's move to cut taxes on goods and services - reducing levies on cement bags to 18% from 28% - became effective in late September, driving demand for cement.

Demand for the construction material firmed significantly in December, Jefferies said in a pre-earnings note, recovering from a lull during local festivals and ahead of the seasonally strong January-March period when construction activity picks up pace due to favorable weather conditions.

Tax cuts drove down average pan-India cement prices by 6% on-year in the reported quarter, data from brokerage Ambit Capital showed.

PEER COMPARISON

Valuation (next 12 months)
Estimates (next 12 months)
Analysts' sentiment
RIC
PE
EV/EBITDA
Price/Sales
Revenue growth (%)
Profit growth
Mean rating*
# of analysts
Stock to price target**
Div yield (%)
ACC Ltd
ACC.NS
14.77
8.34
1.19
9.42
-0.98
Hold
20
0.81
0.44
UltraTech Cement Ltd
ULTC.NS
33.89
19.55
3.70
12.45
32.12
Buy
38
0.90
0.62
Ambuja Cements Ltd
ABUJ.NS
28.80
14.26
2.73
15.47
13.46
Buy
39
0.80
0.38
Shree Cement Ltd
SHCM.NS
43.20
16.80
4.28
10.01
27.20
Hold
23
0.90
0.58

* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

OCTOBER TO DECEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG

($1 = 91.7750 Indian rupees)

ACC Q3 vs peers https://tmsnrt.rs/49U2Nnl

 (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Komal Salecha in Bengaluru; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar)

 ((Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; X: MukherjeeHritam))