Grasim Industries had reported a net loss of Rs 1,319.79 crore in the September quarter a year ago, Grasim Industries said in a BSE filing.
Its revenue from operation was at Rs 18,430.27 crore, up 3 per cent, during the quarter under review as against Rs 17,892.42 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.
"Consolidated EBITDA at Rs 3,180 crore recorded a growth of 7 per cent Y-o-Y and PAT (before exceptional items and one-time deferred tax benefit) was up by 6 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 639 crore driven by superior performance of the company's subsidiaries, UltraTech Cement Limited and Aditya Birla Capital Limited.
Grasim Industries' total expenses were at Rs 17,069.81 crore during the period as against Rs 16,541.52 crore, up 3.19 per cent.
Its revenue from Viscose segment was at Rs 2,431.42 crore, down 6.67 per cent, to Rs 2,605.36 crore of Q2/FY 2018-19.
"The weakness in the domestic VSF realisations impacted this quarter's profitability. The benefit of falling input costs like pulp prices will get reflected in the coming quarters due to inventory time lag," said Grasim Industries.
While, its cement business UltraTech' revenue was at Rs 9,620.47 crore, up 4.01 per cent, as against Rs 9,249.26 crore.
"UltraTech completed the acquisition of Century Textiles and Industries cement business... With this acquisition, UltraTech's cement manufacturing capacity stands augmented to 117.4 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), including its overseas capacity. This makes UltraTech the 3rd largest cement company in the world, outside of China," the company said.
Revenue from Chemicals during the quarter was at Rs 1,347.30 crore, down 16.44 per cent, as against Rs 1,612.38 crore.
"Softening of Caustic Soda prices globally has led to decline in the domestic prices, resulting in lower profitability on YoY basis," said Grasim.
While its Financial Services segment revenue reported a 12.72 per cent increase at Rs 3,960.86 crore during the period from Rs 3,513.59 crore a year ago.
Revenue from others segment was at Rs 1,305.60 crore, up 13.32 per cent, as against Rs 1,152.10 crore.
On the outlook, Grasim said its VSF business will continue to focus on expanding the market in India and its chemical business is under an expansion mode for both chlor-alkali and specialty chemicals.
On UltraTech, it said: "The company with its presence across the country is the best positioned to take advantage of the revival in cement demand, despite the anomalies that may get created in demand patterns in some parts of the country due to extraneous reasons."
"Grasim is incurring capex to increase capacities across its key business lines and is potentially well positioned to leverage the next phase of the economic growth," the company said.
Shares of Grasim Industries Ltd on Thursday settled at Rs 734.30 apiece on the BSE, down 0.64 per cent from the previous close. KRH MKJ