Indian cement maker ACC's quarterly profit falls on rising costs

ACC

24/04/2025 10:37

April 24 - Indian cement maker ACC ACC.NS reported a marginally lower fourth-quarter profit on Thursday as higher expenses outweighed rising sales volumes in a seasonally strong quarter.

The Adani group firm reported a 1.8% fall year-on-year in profit after tax to 7.35 billion rupees ($86.1 million) for the January to March quarter.

Its sales volumes rose 14% on-year, above the 5%-12% range estimated by at least three brokerages, and lifted overall revenue by 12% to 59.49 billion rupees.

However, total expenses, the bulk of which is raw material costs, rose 12.7% for the quarter.

For further earnings highlights, click nFWN3R2029

KEY CONTEXT

The fourth quarter is typically strong for cement companies as they ramp up sales to meet fiscal year-end targets.

While cement prices continued to recover during the reported period, on an average, they were still about 2% lower from a year earlier, data from brokerage Ambit Capital showed.

Cost control measures largely helped peer Dalmia Bharat DALB.NS report a higher fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, offsetting the hit from soft prices and lower volumes.

Sector leader UltraTech Cement ULTC.NS is slated to report its earnings next week.

PEER COMPARISON

Valuation (next 12 months)
Estimates (next 12 months)
Analysts' sentiment
RIC
PE
EV/EBITDA
Revenue growth (%)
Profit growth (%)
Mean rating*
No. of analysts
Stock to price target**
Div yield (%)
ACC Ltd
ACC.NS
19.43
9.98
9.32
27.98
Buy
19
0.89
0.37
Ambuja Cements
ABUJ.NS
33.43
16.35
19.83
16.67
Buy
33
0.93
0.35
Shree Cement
SHCM.NS
58.74
21.28
16.07
68.58
Hold
17
1.09
0.35
UltraTech Cement
ULTC.NS
37.61
20.46
17.93
42.59
Buy
35
0.96
0.59

* 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

JANUARY-MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG

-- $1 = 85.3400 Indian rupees

ACC Q4 https://tmsnrt.rs/4jq8FbD

 (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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