India Cements posts wider Q1 loss as subdued demand adds to pricing woes

India Cements

09/08/2024 08:42

BENGALURU, Aug 9 (Reuters) - India Cements  ICMN.NS , in which market leader UltraTech Cement  ULTC.NS  is
taking majority control, posted a bigger first-quarter adjusted loss on Friday, hurt by subdued demand.
    The South India-focused company's loss before exceptional items and tax increased to 1.62 billion rupees ($19.3
million) in the quarter, from 989.1 million rupees a year ago.
    The company said the latest quarter included an exceptional income of 2.41 billion rupees from the sale of a
grinding unit.
    Excluding that, India Cements posted its fifth straight quarterly loss in a stiffly contested market, which has
forced companies to cut prices to keep market share.
    
    KEY CONTEXT
    The country's general elections, which spanned half the April-June quarter, slowed down construction activity
as did the extreme summer heat, dampening sales volumes.
    Ramco Cements  TRCE.NS , Shree Cement  SHCM.NS  and ACC  ACC.NS  have all missed profit estimates for the
quarter.
    
    PEER COMPARISON  
                                  Valuation (next     Estimates (next 12       Analysts' sentiment
                                     12 months)            months)          
                       RIC        PE      EV/EBITD  Revenue      Profit     Mean      # of      Stock to       Div
                                          A         growth (%)   growth     rating*   analysts  price          yiel
                                                                 (%)                            target**       d
                                                                                                               (%)
 India Cements          ICMN.NS    87.43     24.99     6.99         --      Sell             5      2.09       0.00
 Shree Cement           SHCM.NS    32.62     16.33     3.15        -7.06    Buy             16      0.86       0.43
 Ramco Cements          TRCE.NS    36.52     13.34     6.24        21.87    Hold            21      0.96       0.30
 ACC                    ACC.NS     20.28     10.88     6.27        3.51     Buy             19      0.83       0.32
 * 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
 
 APRIL-JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE  
    
 -- All data from LSEG
 -- $1 = 83.9250 Indian rupees
 

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APRIL-JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE    https://tmsnrt.rs/4dediT7
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 (Reporting by Anisha Ajith in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
 ((anisha.ajith@thomsonreuters.com;))