UltraTech-owned India Cements narrows quarterly loss as sales volumes ramp up

India Cements

23/01/2026 09:32

Jan 23 (Reuters) - India Cements ICMN.NS posted a smaller third-quarter loss on Friday compared to a year earlier, helped by a 25% jump in sales volumes as parent UltraTech Cement ULTC.NS ramps up capacity to meet an uptick in demand.

The Chennai-headquartered cement maker posted a loss of 57.2 million rupees ($622,568.09) in the quarter ended December 31, compared to a loss of 4.09 billion rupees a year earlier.

Revenue rose 23.5% to 11.14 billion rupees.

For further earnings highlights, click here.

KEY CONTEXT

Demand for construction materials is usually weak in India during the October-December period, as festivals in various parts of the country lead to a shortage of labour.

However, demand firmed materially last month, Jefferies said in a pre-earnings note, ahead of the seasonally strong January-March period when conditions are more favourable.

Analysts see the Indian government's move to cut taxes on cement bags to 18% from 28% as a demand driver.

Including the tax cuts, average pan-India cement prices dropped 6% on-year in the reported quarter, data from brokerage Ambit Capital showed.

UltraTech Cement is set to report its results on Saturday.

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 (%)
India Cements Ltd
ICMN.NS
67.85
18.48
-
-
-
Sell
1
1.17
-
UltraTech Cement Ltd
ULTC.NS
33.68
19.03
3.62
12.33
34.37
Buy
37
0.91
0.63
Dalmia Bharat Ltd
DALB.NS
29.89
11.85
2.60
9.79
20.70
Buy
35
0.90
0.42
Ramco Cements Limited
TRCE.NS
37.22
14.95
-
11.36
74.50
Hold
23
1.04
0.18

* 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-DECEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG

-- $1 = 91.8775 Indian rupees

ICMN Q3 vs peers https://tmsnrt.rs/3LNsNst

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Harikrishnan Nair)

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