India's JK Lakshmi Cement Q4 profit rises on cost control measures

India Cements

23/05/2024 12:39

BENGALURU, May 23 (Reuters) - India's JK Lakshmi Cement  JKLC.NS  on Thursday reported a
46.3% rise in its fourth-quarter profit, as a tighter lid on costs helped cushion the impact from a
revenue drop amid lower cement prices.
    The company's net profit after tax (PAT) stood at 1.42 billion rupees ($17.1 million) compared
to 973.2 million rupees a year ago.
    The total expenses dropped 10.4% compared with the previous year, helped by lower fuel,
transport and employee costs.
    Meanwhile, revenue from operations fell 4.7% to 16.48 billion rupees hurt by volumes dropping
4.3%. 
    For further highlights, click here.
    
    KEY CONTEXT
    To stave off tough competition and meet fiscal year-end volume targets, Indian cement makers
unveiled discounts in the January-March period which had led prices across the country on average
to drop to two-year lows on an annualized basis.
    A lid on costs also helped rival India Cements  ICMN.NS  to narrow its loss, while Adani-owned
Ambuja Cements  ABUJ.NS  and south India-focused rival Ramco Cements  TRCE.NS  missed their
respective Q4 profit estimates.


    PEER COMPARISON
    
                                   Valuation (next   Estimates          Analysts' sentiment
                                     12 months)      (next 12    
                                                      months)    
                       RIC         PE      EV/EBIT  Revenue      Mean      # of       Stock to
                                           DA       growth(%)    rating    analysts   price target
 JK Lakshmi Cement      JKLC.NS     15.50     8.04    11.79       BUY             11      0.84
 Ltd                                                                                  
 India Cements Ltd      ICMN.NS     56.41    16.63     6.90      SELL              5      1.20 
 Ramco Cements          TRCE.NS     26.32    11.33     10.66     HOLD             20      0.77
 Limited                                                                              
 Nuvoco Vistas          NUVO.NS     35.58     8.43     6.05      BUY              18      0.82
 Corporation Ltd                                                                      
 
 * Mean of analysts' ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong
Sell
** 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 = 83.2275 Indian rupees

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JANUARY-MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE    https://tmsnrt.rs/3VcYspn
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 (Reporting by Anisha Ajith and Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
 ((anisha.ajith@thomsonreuters.com;))