Ambuja Cements Q2 PAT seen up 32% at Rs 460 cr

Net sales are likely to rise by 16% YoY to Rs 2,521 crore and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are seen going up by 20% to Rs 699 crore during the same period.

EBITDA margin is seen improving by 90 basis points to 27.7% year-on-year, but quarter-on-quarter is expected to be a fall of 60 basis points.
 
Sequentially everthing except net profit is likely to show a decline due to lower sales volumes; net sales are expected to fall 4% and EBITDA down 6%.

In the March quarter, PAT was at Rs 312 crore due to change in method of depreciation. The company had recognized an additional depreciation of Rs 289 crore due to change of depreciation from straight-line method (SLM) to written down value method (WDV). Otherwise profit after tax would have been higher by Rs 195 crore and would have stood at Rs 507 crore in the January-March quarter.

Topline will be aided by higher realizations and dispatches (YoY): Average India prices are up roughly 9% YoY and 6% QoQ.

Sales volume are expected to come in at 5.6mt, which indicates a rise 6% YoY but fall of 8% sequentially.

Capacity ramp has come on stream taking Ambuja’s installed capacity to 27mtpa. Analysts expect realizations to inch up 8% YoY and up 4-5% QoQ.