C K Birla group firm Orient Cement Ltd on Monday reported an over two-fold jump in net profit at Rs 99.87 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2021. It had posted a net profit of Rs 44.06 crore in the January-March quarter a year ago, Orient Cement said in a BSE filing.

Its revenue from operation rose 27.06 per cent to Rs 831.61 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 654.52 crore in the corresponding period a year earlier. Total expenses were at Rs 680.83 crore in Q4/FY2020-21, up 14.96 per cent as against Rs 654.52 crore.

For the fiscal year 2020-21, its net profit rose over two-folds to 214.18 crore. It was Rs 86.58 crore in the previous year. However, its revenue from operations for the fiscal was marginally down by 4.03 per cent at Rs 2,324.08 crore. It was Rs 2,421.79 crore in FY2019-20.

The company said that in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak and consequent lockdown imposed by the government last year, the manufacturing facilities of the company were temporarily shut down and were opened in a phased manner in the months of April and May 2020 after restrictions were relaxed.

”Accordingly, the sales volume of the current year is impacted, although cement demand has been progressively recovering over the year with improved prices,” it said. Meanwhile, in a separate filing, Orient Cement informed that its board in a meeting held on Monday recommended a final dividend of 150 percent, which is Rs 1.50 per equity share of Re 1 each for the year ended March 31, 2021.

Shares of Orient Cement Ltd on Monday settled at Rs 121.65 a unit on the BSE, up 2.23 percent from their previous close.

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