Indian cement firm ACC tops Q4 profit view on strong sales volumes

Shree Cement

25/04/2024 10:48

BENGALURU, April 25 (Reuters) - Indian cement producer ACC  ACC.NS  topped fourth-quarter profit
estimates on Thursday, as lower prices helped boost sales volumes.
    The Adani Group-owned company's profit after tax rose over three-fold to 7.49 billion rupees ($89.9 million)
in the January-March period, surpassing analysts' average estimate of 4.86 billion rupees, according to LSEG
data. 
    Revenue from operations rose nearly 13% to 53.98 billion rupees, helped by a 22.4% rise in consolidated sales
volumes. Analysts were expecting a 14%-15% volume growth.
    For further earnings highlights, click {nFWN3GY05E}
    
    KEY CONTEXT
    Indian cement makers have benefitted from strong infrastructure and real estate demand for the past few
quarters.
        However, the January-March quarter is a seasonally strong period, when cement makers resort to
steeper-than-normal discounts to boost volumes and meet fiscal year-end targets amid tough competition. Cement
prices fell roughly 5% sequentially to a two-year low in the reported quarter.
    Peer Dalmia Bharat  DALB.NS  reported a smaller-than-expected fall in profit on Wednesday, aided by strong
volume growth. 
    
    PEER COMPARISON    
                                Valuation (next   Estimates (next 12          Analysts' sentiment         
                                  12 months)           months)                                            
                     RIC        PE     EV/EBITD  Revenue     Profit    Mean     # of      Stock to price  Div
                                       A         growth (%)  growth    rating   analysts  target- **      yield
                                                             (%)       *                                  (%)
 ACC Ltd              ACC.NS    20.49     11.18     7.68      18.53    Buy            15       0.88          0.38
 Ambuja Cements       ABUJ.NS   32.54     18.36     4.75      15.26    Hold           20       1.07          0.41
 UltraTech Cement     ULTC.NS   29.25     17.08    11.60      32.00    Buy            34       0.90          0.40
 Shree Cement         SHCM.NS   32.93     16.31     9.76      16.34    Hold           16       0.87          0.43
 * 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
    
    JANUARY-MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE 
    
    
 -- All data from LSEG
 -- $1 = 83.3425 Indian rupees
 
 

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ACC with peers in Q4    https://tmsnrt.rs/3WbP1Hn
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 (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Janane Venkatraman)
 ((Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @MukherjeeHritam;))