Shree Cement Q2 profit rises 18%, EBITDA improves to Rs 1300/tn

Moneycontrol Bureau

Shree Cement's second quarter profit grew by 18.3 percent year-on-year to Rs 291.5 crore on strong topline as well as operational performance.

Revenue during the quarter increased 17.7 percent to Rs 2,254 crore from Rs 1,915.3 crore in same period last fiscal as cement volume growth was 9 percent and realisations were higher by 6 percent.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, HM Bangur, MD of Shree Cement says he expects cement demand to pick up in H2FY17 and expects sales volumes to increase by 7-8 percent in H2FY17.

Bangur further says EBITDA improved from Rs 850 in Q2FY16 to Rs 1,300 per tonne in Q2FY17.

Profit missed analysts' expectations but topline and EBITDA beat estimates. Profit was expected at Rs 362 crore on revenue of Rs 2,040 crore and EBITDA at Rs 593 crore with margin of 29.1 percent, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) shot up 57.7 percent to Rs 656.6 crore and margin expanded by 740 basis points to 29.1 percent on yearly basis, aided by power business.

Power business grew by 5 percent year-on-year to Rs 396.3 crore but its EBIT surged 58.25 percent to Rs 170.60 crore in Q2.

Other income during the quarter increased 28.7 percent to Rs 123.3 crore compared with year-ago period.

Power & fuel cost fell 4 percent to Rs 357.3 crore but depreciation & amortisation expenses jumped 76.5 percent to Rs 432.2 crore and freight & forwarding cost rose 17.2 percent to Rs 406.6 crore on a year-on-year basis.

At 14:59 hours IST, the stock was quoting at Rs 16,887.50, up Rs 88.60, or 0.53 percent on the BSE.