Birla Corporation Q3 net profit jumps 71pc to Rs 53 crore

Kolkata, Jan 31 (PTI) Birla Corporation Ltd on Saturday reported a 71 per cent year-on-year surge in its consolidated net profit to Rs 53 crore for the quarter ended December.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 31 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year, it said in a statement.

Despite a “challenging market environment”, its consolidated EBITDA grew 18.4 per cent to Rs 312 crore during the period under review, compared to Rs 263 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Birla Corporation’s consolidated revenue stood at Rs 2,178 crore, a decline of 4.1 per cent from Rs 2,272 crore in the October-December quarter a year earlier. The drop was attributed to a 6 per cent fall in cement sales volume to 4.23 million tonnes. Revenue was also impacted by an estimated 4-6 per cent reduction in cement prices across key markets.

The cement division’s EBITDA margin improved to 14.8 per cent for the quarter under review, up from 11.9 per cent in the previous year. Total cost of cement production declined by 4 per cent year-on-year, while EBITDA per tonne for the division rose by 23.4 per cent to Rs 702.

The Kolkata-based company made a provision of Rs 34 crore to account for the estimated impact of new labour codes introduced by the Union government.

Birla Corporation said it is continuing to implement measures to rationalise operating costs, and optimise product and geographic mix to improve capacity utilisation across plants. PTI BSM RBT