Cement maker The Ramco Cements on Thursday witnessed a 818% year-on-year (YoY) jump in standalone net profit at ₹101 crore for the quarter that ended September 30, 2023. It reported a bottomline of ₹11 crore in the same period the previous year.

The company's revenue from operations surged 30% YoY to ₹2,329 crore for the quarter under review, compared to ₹1,784 crore it recorded in the similar quarter last year.

Both the topline and bottomline were higher than CNBC-TV18's poll of ₹2,097 crore and ₹67 crore, respectively.

Its operating profit, calculated as EBITDA, rose to ₹412.4 crore from ₹183.5 crore in the same quarter a year ago. The operating margin expanded by 710 basis points to 17.6% from 10.5% a year ago.

During the quarter, the company's sale volume stood at 4.61 million tons, compared to 3.35 million tons in the the year-ago period with a growth of 38%.

The cement capacity utilisation for the quarter under review stood at 82%. The cement prices are under pressure during the current period, The Ramco Cements said in a statement.

Cost of raw materials rose

The cement maker also said that the cost of raw materials increased by 7% YoY from ₹836 to ₹897 per ton for the current quarter due to inflationary impact on procurement cost.

During the second quarter, the blended fuel consumption per ton for cement is equivalent to $148 as against $199 during the same quarter previous year. The power and fuel cost per ton of cement for the period has decreased from Rs 1,989 in Q2FY23 to Rs 1,358.

The change in utility of sale of wind power to captive use has also helped to reduce the overall power cost. The current spot CIF prices of pet coke and 4200 GAR coal from Indonesia has come to the level of $138 and $69, respectively.

Even though the fuel prices have come down during the Q2FY24 for a brief period, the power and fuel cost per ton of cement for Q2FY24 remain at elevated level due to the higher base effect of the carrying value of the fuel inventory.

The overall green power usage has significantly improved from 22% in Q2FY23 to 38% in Q2FY24 in view of change in utility of wind power to captive purposes. The green power share is likely to reach 40% in FY24 and 45% in FY25, the company said.

The Ramco Cements said that an improvement in cement prices from October 2023 coupled with current level of fuel price are expected to have positive impact on the operating margins in the upcoming quarters.

Ramco Cements is engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling cement and cement-related products.

Shares of Ramco Cements Limited were trading 1.79% higher at ₹1,028 apiece on the NSE during Thursday's late afternoon deals.

First Published:Nov 9, 2023 2:25 PM IST