ACC Q2 profit beats estimates

ACC, an Adani Group cement company, has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 388 crore for the second quarter ended September, buoyant on an improved demand for its premium products and operational efficiencies. In comparison, the company had posted a net loss of Rs 87 crore a year ago.

The company’s revenue rose 11.2% to Rs 4,435 crore from Rs 3,987 crore in Q2FY23. The cement manufacturer had posted a net profit of Rs 466 crore in the sequential quarter ended June, ACC said in a statement.

“This growth is attributed to the improved demand for our premium cement products up by 1.5 percentage points on a year-on-year basis at 32% of trade sales and net dealer addition of 534 during the quarter across all markets. In operational efficiencies, electrical energy consumption improved by 6.4 kilowatt-hour per metric tonne (kWh/t) at 73.9 kWh/t with clinker factor improvement from 57.2% to 56.6% coupled,” CEO Ajay Kapur said.

“Our commitment to enhancing logistics efficiencies has resulted in a road direct despatch increase from 52% to 58% and an increase in rail coefficient by 5 percentage points to 34%,” he added.

ACC’s clinker and cement sales volume rose by 17.3% y-o-y to 8.1 million tonne, while kiln fuel cost fell by 42%, driven by fuel mix optimisation and higher alternative fuel consumptions.

During the quarter, ACC’s The Waste Heat Recovery System (WHRS) at Kymore & Jamul (22.4 MW) became fully operational, while another 16.3 MW at Ametha is expected to be commissioned in Q3. The share of WHRS in total power consumption will increase to 9% by the end of FY24 against 2.9% in the last quarter, it said.

On the outlook, the firm said it expects the industry to witness a volumetric growth as the demand environment remains “robust” on the back of increased housing and infrastructure spend.