UltraTech Cement tightens grip on volumes, costs as pricing revival awaited
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Cement pricing disappointed in the December quarter (Q3FY26), but UltraTech Cement Ltd still delivered a comfortable earnings beat. Consolidated Ebitda jumped 36% year-on-year to ₹3,916 crore, ahead of consensus, even as grey cement realizations fell about 6%.
Strong volume growth and lower costs lifted Ebitda per tonne to ₹1,007 from ₹856 a year ago. The driver was scale and cost discipline. Cement volumes rose 15% sequentially to 38.9 million tonnes, including contributions from India Cements and Kesoram, signalling market share gains.
At the same time, UltraTech is becoming less sensitive to pricing swings as costs decline. Of the planned ₹300-350 per tonne savings over time, about ₹86 per tonne was delivered in FY25, with cumulative savings by FY26 expected to cross ₹100 per tonne, providing a cushion against uneven industry pricing. Pricing, meanwhile, has begun to firm.
January saw hikes of ₹6-8 per bag, translating into a net realization uplift of roughly ₹3-4 per bag as the peak season approaches. Capacity expansion remains on track. UltraTech is set to add 8-9 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in Q4 and another 12 mtpa in FY27, taking total capacity to around 235 mt by FY28.
Capex guidance for FY26 is ₹10,000 crore. Net debt-to-Ebitda stood at about 1.08x at December-end, with management indicating this should ease to around 0.8–0.9x by March-end. The next test is integration.
Acquired assets, India Cements and Kesoram Industries, still trail UltraTech’s core profitability. Management expects margins at both assets to improve meaningfully over FY27-28, driven by cost actions and the completion of brand transition by June, alongside improving pricing in the southern market. If
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