Prism Cement on Thursday reported a five-fold rise in standalone net profit at Rs 61.89 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2015 helped by steps taken in the last fiscal for cost optimisation.
The Mumbai-based firm had posted a net profit of Rs 11 crore in the year-ago period. Total standalone income, however, grew marginally to Rs 1,529.53 crore in January-March quarter of the last fiscal from Rs 1,523.96 crore in the same quarter of 2013-14, it said in a BSE filing.
For the fourth, Prism Cements sold 15.03 lakh tonnes of cement and clinker as against 14.71 lakh tonnes in the same period of the corresponding year, it said.
"Cement Division has started using some quantities of imported coal in order to reduce cost. The full benefit of this initiative would reflect in the current financial year 2015-16 in a phased manner," the firm added.
There was some other cost saving initiatives. However, the impact of improved operational efficiencies and increased volumes was negated by weak demand and sluggish prices during the fourth quarter as compared to the corresponding quarter of FY'14, it said.
Prism Cements said it is in the process of replacing expensive bank borrowings with NCDs in a phased manner to reduce interest cost.
For the entire 2014-15 fiscal, its standalone net profit stood at Rs 14.70 crore against a net loss of Rs 81.65 crore in 2013-14.
Total standalone income grew 13 percent to Es 5,593.88 crore from Rs 4,964.86 crore during the reported period. Shares of the company rose by 0.89 percent to settle at Rs 102.05 apiece on the BSE.
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