BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian cement maker ACC reported a higher-than-expected third-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by price hikes and strong demand for construction materials.
The Adani Group-owned company’s profit after tax surged nearly five-fold to 5.27 billion rupees ($63.4 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, surpassing average analysts’ estimates of 4.15 billion rupees, per LSEG IBES data.
Cement prices in India, on average, rose 2.5% sequentially, brokerage Systematix said in a note, helping makers earn more from sales.
The makers have also been benefitting from a demand surge from the housing and infrastructure sectors, further aided by the government’s spending push.
The company’s revenue from operations climbed more than 8% to 49.18 billion rupees, helped by a 17% year-on-year growth in cement and clinker sales volumes.
Analysts were expecting a growth of 5-11% in the quarter.
ACC’s power and fuel costs dropped 10%, leading to a 1.5% slip in total expenses.
“Opportunity buy of low-cost petcoke will help to further optimise fuel costs in the coming quarters,” the company said in a statement.
Price hikes and sustained infrastructure demand helped larger rival UltraTech Cement post third-quarter profit and revenue above estimates last week.
Shares of ACC rose 5.5% after results on Thursday.
($1 = 83.1175 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru)
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