New Delhi : UltraTech Cement reported 9.9% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 722.56 crore for the March quarter due to low fuel costs as well as a drop in tax and finance costs.
Part of the Aditya Birla Group, the firm said that net sales of increased to Rs 6,850.46 crore as against Rs 6,516.52 crore in the year-ago period.
Domestic cement grew 15 per cent during Q4 2015-16, while grey cement sales stood at 13.20 million tonnes (MT) against 11.51 MT in Q4 2014-15. Power and fuel cost fell 12.3% while finance cost fell by 20.5% to 1.27 bln rupees and tax outgo declined by 19.4% to 2.52 bln rupees.
On the outlook, the company said the cement demand is expected to grow 7-8 per cent next year on the back of the government’s focus on infrastructure development, housing, smart cities, among others, all of which augur well for the company. The cement maker said with commissioning of the cement grinding plants at Jhajjar in Haryana, Dankuni in West Bengal and Patliputra in Bihar, its cement capacity in India rose to 66.3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).
The firm declared a dividend of Rs 9.50 per share.