NEW DELHI: Billionaire Gautam Adani’s newest acquisition -- ACC Cement-- on Tuesday surprised the street by reporting a consolidated net loss of Rs 87.35 crore for the July-September period of the calendar year 2022 as against a net profit of Rs 450 crore in the year-ago period.
Analysts expected ACC to report profit ranging between Rs 100-200 crore for the quarter The loss for ACC comes even as its net sales rose 7 per cent to Rs 3,910 crore in Q3CY22 from Rs 3,653 crore in Q3CY22.
As per the Adani Group firm, its performance during the quarter was impacted by higher fuel prices. As per the exchange filing, ACC’s total expenses grew by 30 per cent to Rs 4,162 crore in the September quarter, as against Rs 3,204 crore in the year-ago period. Power and fuel costs rose 67 per cent to Rs 1,318 crore as against Rs 788 crore reported in the year-ago period.
ACC’s earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) came down to Rs 16 crore in Q2 versus Rs 712 crore reported last year. Ebitda margins plunged to 0.4 per cent from 19.5 per cent reported last year.
“The post-monsoon quarter will see the traditional rebound for the cement sector, including for ACC. We have had significant cost pressures in the recent past due to a steep fuel price rise. However, the recent cooling off in energy costs will impact us positively in the coming quarters,” said B Sridhar, whole-time director & CEO of ACC.
“We have aggressive growth plans and our capacity expansion initiative through our new green field projects at Ametha is progressing well and is expected to be commissioned by March 2023,” he added.