Dalmia Bharat Q3 net profit up 22% as commodity prices ease

livemint.com:

Dalmia Bharat Ltd on Wednesday reported a 22% year-on-year rise in its consolidated net profit for the fiscal third quarter (Q3) to ₹266 crore. This growth was attributed to easing commodity prices along with subdued fuel cost. Net profit was in line with estimates of analysts polled by Bloomberg Consolidated revenue of ₹3,600 crore was up 7.3% on year, led by an 8.1% increase in sales volumes.

Cement makers have seen demand surge as the government focuses on infrastructure development in the run-up to general elections. Dalmia Bharat also received the final instalment of ₹120 crore from Hippostores Technology Pvt. Ltd., a promoter group company, on account of the sale of Hippo Stores, the country's fourth largest cement maker said in a statement accompanying the results.

“While we believe that margins may improve further from here on, our focus for the next 12-15 months would remain on improving our capacity utilization and delivering industry-leading volume growth," said Puneet Dalmia, managing director & CEO, Dalmia Bharat, in the statement. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) stood at ₹775 crore in December ended quarter, with Ebitda margin at 21.5%. “We continue to remain one of the lowest-cost producers in the country.

This, along with softening commodity prices, helped us to achieve 11.3% YoY growth in our Ebitda/Tonne to ₹1,138," said Dharmender Tuteja, chief financial officer, Dalmia Bharat. “…In line with our commitment to keep net debt at less than 2 times Ebitda, we closed this quarter with net debt to Ebitda at 0.16 times. Our net debt is now reduced to ₹431 crore," Tuteja said.