India Cements on Monday reported a standalone net profit at 71.63 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2021 on the back of strong sales, the company said on Monday. The city-headquartered company — which has re- appointed N Srinivasan as its Managing Director for five years with effect from May 26, 2021, subject to the approval of shareholders — posted a standalone net loss at Rs 111.07 during same quarter last fiscal.

The standalone total income during the period under review stood at Rs 1,461.44 crore compared to Rs 1,169.92 crore in the year-ago period. The board of directors of the company, at its meeting held today, also approved a dividend of Re 1 per equity share of Rs 10 each for the year 2020-21.

For the year ending March 31, 2021, the standalone net profit was Rs 222.04 crore against a net loss at 35.51 crore in FY 2019-20. The standalone total income for the year ending March 31, 2021 was at Rs 4,460.12 crore compared to Rs 5,085.28 crore.

Briefing reporters, company Vice-Chairman and Managing Director N Srinivasan said the company did very well and the performance of the company last year was outstanding. ”Reason being — as against a loss in the previous years, we had a profit before tax of over Rs 320 crore and a profit after tax of Rs 200 crore something which is very creditable given the fact that the factory operated only at 50 percent whole of last year,” he said.

The company last year repaid Rs 500 crore debt and it was very creditable, he said. ”We have managed our inventory, and our cash management was very good and helped in repayment. This year we expect to generate more money,” he said.

To a query, he said the total debt last year stood at Rs 3,500 crore and it has come down to Rs 2,900 crore. This includes term debt, working capital debt.

On the outlook, Srinivasan said the lockdown was reducing in the west in places like Gujarat. ”We also expect that by the middle of June even in the South the lockdown effect will reduce substantially. So overall, I do not feel to change my business plan which I have developed for the whole year including repayment of Rs 600 crore debt. We will complete our capital expenditure as we have already stated (for this year)”, he said.

The company would continue with its strategy of ’cash and carry model similar to last year by retailing cement prices both at retail stores and institutional sales, he said.

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