India’s largest cement maker UltraTech Cement reported a 48.9% year-on-year increase in net profit for the quarter ended June 30, on the back of improved sales and lower energy costs. Net profit for the quarter came in at Rs 2,226 crore as compared to Rs 1,495 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. The cement firm’s profit after tax, however, trailed Bloomberg estimates of Rs 2,251 crore.
Revenue for the quarter under review grew 13.1% y-o-y to Rs 21,275 crore. However, it missed the estimates of Rs 21,506 crore.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased 46.2% y-o-y to Rs 4,410 crore and came in line with Bloomberg estimates of Rs 4,409 crore.
The company reported Ebitda margin of 20.7% and profit margin of 10.5%.
The cement firm’s operating Ebitda/Mt was up Rs 337/Mt annually at Rs 1,248/Mt.
Volume Growth
UltraTech’s consolidated sales volumes for the quarter grew 9.7% y-o-y to 36.83 million metric tonne after the acquisitions of India Cements and the cement business of Kesoram Industries, the company said in its earnings report.
“A capex plan is being made for investments over the next two years for improvement in all areas of operations to bring these (the acquired Kesoram and India Cements) assets at par with UltraTech standards,” the firm said in its earnings statement.
Sales realisation (revenue per metric tonne) for Q1FY26 was Rs 5,165 per metric tonne, up 2.4% annually, and up 2.2% from the preceding quarter.
Grey cement fuel and power cost were down 14% y-o-y and 8.4% y-o-y, respectively. Fuel cost came in at Rs 871/metric tonne and power cost was Rs 356/metric tonne.
Capex, capacity addition, and UBS expansion
Capex for the year stood at Rs 9,428 crore with 70% going towards growth capex, 10% towards ESG initiatives, and the rest to other activities. The company said in its quarterly earnings presentation that it will spend around Rs 10,000 crore in capex in FY26.
The firm added 3.5 mtpa capacity during the quarter and aims to add another 10.6 mtpa by the end of the fiscal.
The firm has a target capacity addition of 14.1 mtpa for FY26, and target domestic capacity at the end of FY27 is 212.2 mtpa.
The firm’s retail outlet under UltraTech Building Solutions (UBS) increased to 4,802 and contributed to 21% of domestic grey cement sales volume.