Ramco Cements has posted a 17.65% dip in standalone net profit at ₹101.07 crore for the third quarter ended December 2018 against ₹122.74 crore in the corresponding year-earlier period, due to increase in power and transportation cost.
During the period under review, the sales volume increased by 21% to 27.47 lakh tonnes in the southern and the eastern markets. “The power and fuel cost continue to remain at higher levels compared to the corresponding year-earlier period due to higher cost of petcoke and coal. The prices of petcoke and coal have softened and the effect of the same will reflect in operating cost in coming quarters,” said A.V. Dharmakrishnan, CEO, The Ramco Cements Ltd. In the last nine months, the firm had incurred a capital expenditure of ₹767 crore for the ongoing capacity expansion at various locations.