Ambuja Cements Q1FY25 profit at Rs 789.63 crore; revenue at Rs 8,311.48 crore

On Wednesday, Adani Group firm Ambuja Cements Ltd reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 789.63 crore for the first quarter ended June 2024. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 1,135.46 crore in the April-June period a year ago, according to a regulatory filing by Ambuja Cements Ltd (ACL).

Its revenue from operations was at Rs 8,311.48 crore during the June quarter, compared to Rs 8,712.90 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. According to ACL, the financial results for the current quarter, preceding quarter and FY24, also include the financial results of Sanghi, which was acquired in August last year. It also has results of ACCPL (Asian Concretes and Cements Pvt Ltd) ), which was acquired by its subsidiary ACC.

"The results for the current quarter, preceding quarter and FY24, are not comparable with the quarter ended June 30, 2023, to that extent," it said. Total expenses in the June quarter were at Rs 7,566.91 crore. The total Income of ACL, which also includes other income was at Rs 8,666.20 crore in the June quarter.

The consolidated results of Ambuja Cements include the financial performance of its step-down firm ACC Ltd, in which it owns around 51% stake and Sanghi Industries, a Gujarat-based company which the Adani group acquired last year. On a standalone basis, Ambuja Cements reported a profit after tax of Rs 570.65 crore in the June quarter, as against Rs 644.88 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Its standalone revenue from operations was at Rs 4,780.32 crore in the first quarter of FY 2024-25. ACL's sales volume, which also includes ACC, was at 15.8 million tonnes (MT), which was up 2.6%. This was "highest ever Clinker & Cement sales in Q1 over last 5 years," said an earning statement from the company.

While on a standalone basis, Ambuja Cements's own sales volume was at 9.3 MT in the June quarter, up 2.2%.

Commenting on results, Ajay Kapur, Whole Time Director & CEO, ACL said, "Our continued improvement on cost brings visibility of achieving the targeted cost reduction of Rs 530 PMT by FY28." He expects over Rs 10,000 crore acquisition of Hyderabad-based Penna to be closed in the September quarter of this fiscal.

"With the Penna transaction expected to be closed by Q2 FY25, our capacity will go to 89 MTPA and well on track to achieve our 140 MTPA plan by FY28," added Kapur. According to ACL, now "cash and cash equivalent stands at Rs 18,299 crore enables accelerated growth in future".

Sharing updates on the ongoing projects, ACL said brownfield expansions at 14 sites for a Clinker facility of 11 MnT and Cement capacity of 23.4 MnT are progressing well as per plan.

"Out of this 4 MTPA clinker line 3 at Bhatapara (Chhattisgarh) is expected by Q4 FY25 and 6.4 MTPA grinding facility (Sankrail 2.4, Farakka 2.4 and Sindri 1.6 MTPA) is expected between Q3 & Q4 FY25," it said.

In addition, preoperative work for the 28 MTPA grinding facility and 22 MTPA Clinker facility is in progress. Over the outlook, ACL said cement demand during FY24 stood higher by 7- 8% at 422 MTPA and is likely to grow between 7-9% in FY25 to around 451 MTPA.

This would be "driven by strong correlation with GDP growth and rising demand from housing and infrastructure sectors," it said. An outlay of Rs 11.11 lakh crore for infrastructure projects has been allotted in Budget FY25, which represents 3.4% of GDP.

"Phase IV of PMGSY will be launched to provide all-weather connectivity to 25,000 rural habitations. All these measures are expected to bring buoyancy to cement demand," it said. Shares of Ambuja Cements Ltd on Wednesday were trading at Rs 680.10 apiece on BSE, up 0.84 per cent from the previous close.