India's JK Lakshmi Cement Q1 profit doubles on lower expenses

JK Lakshmi Cement

31/07/2024 14:30

BENGALURU, July 31 (Reuters) - India's JK Lakshmi Cement  JKLC.NS  on Wednesday reported a two-fold rise
in first-quarter profit, aided by lower expenses.
    The company's net profit after tax stood at 1.56 billion rupees ($18.7 million) for the quarter ended June 30,
compared to 748.8 million rupees a year ago. Total expenses fell 13% to 13.26 billion rupees year-on year.
    For further earnings highlights, click (Full story)

    KEY CONTEXT
    India's general elections, and an extreme summer season spanning the April-June period, restricted
construction activities and hit sales volumes for cement makers. Additionally, with competition in the sector
stiffening, companies resorted to discounts or rolling back price hikes from earlier in the quarter, weakening
their margins.
    JK Lakshmi's quarterly sales volumes fell 8% to 2.3 million tonnes year-on-year, but costs fell more, with a
28% drop in fuel-related expenses.
    India's largest cement maker UltraTech Cement  ULTC.NS  reported first-quarter profit and revenue below
estimates, while rival ACC Cement also reported a profit-miss.   
        
    PEER COMPARISON
   
                              Valuation (next    Estimates (next 12            Analysts' sentiment
                                 12 months)           months)          
                   RIC        PE        EV/EBI  Revenue     Profit     Mean      # of      Stock to       Div
                                        TDA     growth (%)  growth     rating    analysts  price target   yield
                                                            (%)                                           (%)
 JK Lakshmi         JKLC.NS      17.17    9.08     9.33       18.11    BUY             11      0.94           0.34
 Cement                                                                                                   
 India Cements      ICMN.NS      88.57   26.42     6.88       NULL     SELL             5      2.12           0.00
 Ramco Cements      TRCE.NS      36.03   13.43     5.43       17.58    HOLD            21      0.95           0.30
 Nuvoco Vistas      NUVO.NS      34.62    9.15     6.74       87.94    BUY             16      0.89           -
 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
    

    APRIL-JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE
   
-- All data from LSEG
-- $1 = 83.6560 Indian rupees 
          

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 (Reporting by Anisha Ajith in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
 ((anisha.ajith@thomsonreuters.com;))