India's ACC posts 91% plunge in quarterly profit on higher fuel costs, weaker sales

Ultratech Cement

27/10/2026 10:06

Oct 27 (Reuters) - Adani Group-owned cement maker ACC ACC.NS reported a nearly 91% fall in second-quarter profit on Tuesday, hurt by weaker cement sales, higher fuel costs and an employee severance charge, while a one-time tax benefit had boosted earnings a year earlier.
 
Here are some more details:
Standalone net profit-after-tax fell to 1.01 billion rupees ($10.62 million) in the quarter ended September 30 from 11.12 billion rupees a year earlier, while revenue declined 4.7% year-on-year to 56.12 billion rupees.
The year-ago quarter included a 6.71 billion rupee write-back of tax provisions relating to earlier periods, which boosted profit.
During the September quarter, ACC recorded an exceptional expense of 710 million rupees towards voluntary severance benefits for permanent employees and third-party workers at various production facilities, including those where operations have been temporarily suspended.
Cement makers faced higher costs of key inputs such as petcoke, coal and diesel during the quarter, while seasonally weaker demand and intense competition limited their ability to pass on the increases to customers.
Brokerages had expected the industry's profitability to weaken during the September quarter as rising operating costs outpaced cement price increases.
The company's cement sales volumes fell to 9.72 million tons from 10 million tons a year earlier
Last week, larger rival UltraTech Cement ULTC.NS reported a 21.3% rise in quarterly profit, although the result missed analysts' estimates due to higher costs
ACC expects cement demand to strengthen after the monsoon season, supported by government capital expenditure, housing, and infrastructure spending, the company said in a press release
($1 = 95.1350 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar)
 ((Surbhi.Misra@thomsonreuters.com ||  www.linkedin.com/in/surbhi-misra9/;))