New Delhi: Due to rising fuel and power costs, cement manufacturer ACC on Monday recorded a combined net loss of Rs 87.35 crore for the period of July to September. In the same period last year, the company reported a combined net profit of Rs 450 crore. In the reviewed quarter, net sales increased 7% to Rs 3,910 crore from Rs 3,653 crore in the same quarter last year.
The net loss fell far short of the period’s net profit projection of Rs 220 crore in the Bloomberg consensus estimate. As the Adani group completes the acquisition of ACC and Ambuja Cements, the unexpected loss also occurs. Net sales for the analysed quarter were estimated by Bloomberg to be $4,164 crore.
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After UltraTech, the Adani group became India’s second-largest cement manufacturer when it announced on September 16 that it had successfully completed the acquisition of ACC and Ambuja Cements for $6.4 billion.
The royalty and technical agreement between ACC and Holcim Technology, which was based on one percent of net sales, was also cancelled on the same day. According to information provided by BS Research Bureau, the business paid Rs 264 crore in royalties and technical fees throughout its accounting period in 2021 (calendar year).
According to ACC, the corporation will now use an April-March accounting year, and the current fiscal year has been extended from December 31, 2022, to March 31, 2023. Following the ownership transition, the company reportedly gave selected key staff a special reward worth Rs 16 crore.
In the September quarter, total expenses increased 30% to Rs 4,162 crore from Rs 3,204 crore in the same quarter last year. Particularly, the cost of gasoline and power surged 67% to Rs 1,318 crore from Rs 788 crore reported in the same period last year. The cost of freight jumped 14% to Rs. 983 crore from Rs. 860 crore as reported a year ago.
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In the September quarter, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda), which were reported last year at Rs 712 crore, decreased to Rs 16 crore. Ebitda margins, meanwhile, fell to 0.4% from the stated 19.5% last year. Ebitda was projected by Bloomberg to have been Rs 337 crore for the September quarter.
While ACC’s realisations in the September quarter were respectable, Arafat Saiyed, senior analyst at Mumbai-based brokerage Reliance Securities, noted that input cost pressures were intense. For all cement producers in FY23, “higher input costs continue to remain a big worry,” he said.
According to the findings, ACC’s cement volumes rose by 4% in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2016. It reported a 10% volume rise year over year for Ready Mix (RMX) Concrete.
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