Aditya Birla Group company UltraTech Cement reported a 17% decline in consolidated net profit at ₹1,470 crore in the October-December quarter. Still its charm remained intact. Because growing demand from infrastructure and rural markets helped the company outperform market expectations. Due to this, UltraTech’s share was the biggest gainer on Nifty50 index today.
Increase in earnings, rural market showed strength
The company’s earnings jumped 3% year-on-year to ₹17,193 crore, beating market estimates of ₹16,696 crore. UltraTech sold 28.10 million tonnes of cement in this quarter, which is 9% more than the previous quarter. The special thing was that sales in the rural market increased by 13%, while trade sales also gained momentum by 12.5%. But demand for cement from urban real estate projects remained a bit slow. The reason behind this is the decreasing demand for cheap houses.
Talking about regional performance, the North and West markets did a great job. Demand remained slightly weak due to Cyclone Fangal in South India. Cement prices also increased at a slow pace. In December, prices increased by ₹5-10 per bag and reached ₹350-400.
UltraTech has acquired the cement businesses of India Cements and Kesoram Industries to enter the South Indian market. After this the company will have 30% share of the South Indian market.
Today the company’s shares made an intraday high of Rs 881 against its open price of Rs 10690. The company touched an intraday high of 11571.45 and later closed at 11,406.95, up 6.67% or 713.20.