Ambuja Cement also announced the appointment of Neeraj Akhoury as its new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer effective February 20.
Ambuja Cement, which has the large exposure to the north and central markets, on February 20, reported a 15.4 percent year-on-year decline in Q4CY19 profit due to high base, but beat analyst expectations.
The standalone profit during the quarter dipped to Rs 454.9 crore, down from Rs 537.4 crore reported in the same period last year. The profit in Q4CY18 had a major support from tax credit of Rs 333 crore.
Revenue from operations in Q4 grew by 9.5 percent to Rs 3,135.9 crore YoY, with 6.7 percent growth in sales volumes that stood at 6.54 million tonnes YoY. Cement realisation registered a growth of around 3 percent YoY.
"Ambuja continued its growth momentum and delivered yet another strong quarter, driven by a robust topline performance, good traction in power & fuel and logistics costs reduction," Bimlendra Jha, Managing Director & CEO said.
He further said the greenfield project at Marwar Mundwa, Rajasthan, was well on track and would add 4.5 million tonnes tonnes to cement volumes in key growth markets.
Ambuja Cement also announced the appointment of Neeraj Akhoury as its new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. He will be taking over the position from Bimlendra Jha who resigned with effect from February 20 to pursue other interests.
The company follows the January-December norm as its financial year.
At operating level, standalone earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) surged 35.6 percent to Rs 547.4 crore and margin expanded 340bps YoY to 17.5 percent in the quarter that ended on December 2019, driven by lower power and fuel cost.
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"The quarter saw reduction in key costs i.e. power and fuel and logistics on account of low cost of fuel, operational efficiencies and optimisation in supply chain," Ambuja Cements said in its BSE filing.
Numbers, barring margins, beat analyst estimates. Profit was estimated at Rs 329 crore on revenue of Rs 3,070 crore and EBITDA was expected at Rs 560 crore with margin at 18.2 percent for the quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.Exclusive offer: Use code "BUDGET2020" and get Moneycontrol Pro's Subscription for as little as Rs 333/- for the first year.
