India's JK Lakshmi Cement posts steep drop in Q2 profit on weak demand, low prices

JK Lakshmi Cement

06/11/2024 12:44

Nov 6 (Reuters) - India's JK Lakshmi Cement  JKLC.NS  reported a nearly 91% slide in its second-quarter
profit on Wednesday, hurt by a decline in sales volume and cement prices.
    The company's profit after tax fell to 75.4 million rupees (about $894,500) for the quarter ended Sept. 30,
from 830.3 million rupees a year ago.
    Revenue from operations dropped 21.4% to 11.41 billion rupees. 
    Sales volume fell 14% to 1.87 million tonnes during the quarter.
    For further earnings highlights, click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN3MD133.
    
    KEY CONTEXT
    Cement prices hit a five-year low in the September quarter, Ambit Capital said, due to an industry-wide
ramp-up in production as companies prepared to fill medium-term demand expectations.
    Last month, market leader UltraTech Cement  ULTC.NS  posted its first quarterly revenue drop in four years
due to low cement prices but flagged early signs of price recovery.
    The second quarter is also considered a seasonally weak period for cement makers as demand is subdued due
to the monsoons, resulting in muted construction activity.
    
PEER COMPARISON   
    
                                  Valuation     Estimates (next 12   Analysts' sentiment                 
                                   (next 12           months)                                            
                                   months)                                                               
                    RIC         PE      EV/EBI  Revenue   Profit     Mean      No of     Stock to price  Div
                                        TDA     growth    growth     rating*   analysts  target**        yield
                                                                                                         (%)
 JK Lakshmi Cement   JKLC.NS     18.84    8.91    8.91      14.37    Hold            11       0.93         0.80
 India Cements       ICMN.NS    128.78   25.12    4.98      NULL     Sell             5       1.44         0.00
 Ramco Cements       TRCE.NS     39.22   13.78    8.28      31.97    Hold            19       1.01         0.28
 Nuvoco Vistas       NUVO.NS     51.50   10.06    4.89     103.90    Hold            15       0.96       NULL
 Corporation                                                                                             
    
* 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


JULY-SEPTEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE        
        
 
   
    
-- All data from LSEG IBES

-- $1 = 84.2940 Indian rupees    
    

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JK Lakshmi Cement Sept Qtr 2024 vs Peers    https://tmsnrt.rs/4ftPfjv
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 (Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan)
 ((ashish.chandra@thomsonreuters.com; +91 7982114624;))