India's Orient Cement posts Q2 profit drop on weak demand, lower prices
08/11/2024 11:04
Nov 8 (Reuters) - India's Orient Cement ORCE.NS reported a 90.6% slump in
second-quarter profit on Friday, hurt by subdued demand and lower prices.
The company's net profit fell to 23.2 million rupees ($275,044) for the quarter ended Sept.
30, from 246.3 million rupees a year earlier.
Revenue from operations fell 24.5% to 5.44 billion rupees.
Last month, Ambuja Cements ABUJ.NS said it would buy a nearly 47% stake in Orient Cement
for 37.91 billion rupees.
For further highlights, click urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN3MF16G
KEY CONTEXT
Cement prices hit a five-year low in the September quarter, according to analysts, due to
an industry-wide ramp-up in production as companies prepared to fulfil medium-term contracts.
The quarter is also considered a seasonally weak period as monsoon showers curtail
construction activity.
Last month, market leader UltraTech Cement ULTC.NS posted its first quarterly revenue
drop in four years due to low prices but flagged early signs of price recovery.
Peer JK Lakshmi Cement also reported a sharp slide in second-quarter profit.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next Estimates (next 12 Analysts' sentiment
12 months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBIT Revenue Profit Mean No of Stock to Div
DA growth growth rating* analysts price yield
target** (%)
Orient ORCE.NS 28.82 13.05 6.09 21.82 Sell 7 1.39 0.66
Cement
JK Lakshmi JKLC.NS 18.03 8.61 9.09 14.78 Hold 11 0.90 0.81
Cement
ACC ACC.NS 21.68 11.43 7.43 10.31 Buy 20 0.89 0.32
Dalmia DALB.NS 32.88 11.22 7.56 24.02 Hold 26 0.90 0.50
Bharat
* 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 = 84.3500 Indian rupees
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Orient Cement Sept Qtr 2024 vs Peers https://tmsnrt.rs/40yjMZh
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(Reporting by Ashish Chandra and Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
((ashish.chandra@thomsonreuters.com; +91 7982114624;))