More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024

By Avishek Rakshit

KOLKATA – Muted demand conditions and weak pricing across core markets pushed Birla Corp. Ltd. into the red during Jul-Sept. Even as the company made operational tweaks and continued to focus on premiumisation, its revenue dipped with sales volume declining as well.

Cost headwinds, an extended monsoon, floods, and slow pickup in government demand saw the company's consolidated revenue fall by 14.5% on year to INR 19.5 billion and post a loss attributable to shareholders of the company of INR 251.9 million. In the year-ago period, the company's revenue was INR 22.84 billion and profit attributable to shareholders of the company was INR 583.7 million. Cash profit in Jul-Sept declined by 50.7% on-year to INR 1.1 billion.

The loss was higher than the Street's estimate of INR 144 million. Sector analysts had pegged the revenue at INR 19.9 billion.

The company's cement sales dipped by 5% on year to nearly 4.0 million tonnes, and its operating profit per tonne from cement sales was INR 461 in the September quarter compared to INR 683 in the year-ago period. The operating margin from total cement sales declined by 300 basis points on year to 9.8%.

Hit by weak pricing, the company's realisation per tonne of cement sales in the September quarter was INR 4,697. In a statement, the company said it was able to contain the decline in realisation per tonne of sales by 3% sequentially by increasing share of premium products, improved geographic mix of products available, and selective participation in the non-trade segment, where prices were impacted owing to intense competition.

The flagship company of the MP Birla Group said it remains cautiously optimistic about the December quarter. With the festival season continuing till mid-November and assembly elections being held in Maharashtra, recovery in demand is expected to be delayed till end of November, the company said in a statement.

However, a good rabi crop and government expenditure on infrastructure announced in this year's Union Budget are expected to provide impetus to the economy, it said. On the National Stock Exchange, shares of Birla Corp. Wednesday closed almost 1% lower at INR 1,136.65.  End

Edited by Ashish Shirke

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000 /+91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.