Chennai: The Ramco Cements Ltd, formerly Madras Cements Ltd, today reported about five-fold jump in its standalone net profit to Rs. 89.71 crore for the second quarter ended September on the back of cost reduction and improved realisation.
The company had posted a net profit after taxes, minority interest and share in profit/(loss) of associates at Rs. 18.27 for the same period in the previous fiscal, it said in a statement.
Total income from operations for the July-September quarter also increased by Rs. 30.72 crore to Rs. 951.43 crore from Rs. 920.71 crore in the same period a year ago.
For the half-year ended September 30, the net profit of the company escalated 44.59 per cent to Rs. 125.97 crore from Rs. 87.12 crore in the year-ago period.
For the first half of the current fiscal, Ramco's total income from operations increased marginally and stood at Rs. 1,910.58 crore, up from Rs. 1,907.89 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
The lower production and sale of cement during the half-year under review is due to continued slackness in demand for cement in key areas of our market, the statement said.
The fillip for infrastructure activities due to bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh is expected to materialise in the coming months, it added.
On the status of ongoing projects, the company said it is in the process of establishing a grinding unit at Vishakapatnam at a cost of Rs. 475 crore.
Noting that the project was delayed by three months due to the damages caused by cyclone HudHud, it said, “The project, scheduled to be commissioned in September 2014, will be commissioned by March 2015.”
On the status of power plants, it said the company is in the process of enhancing the capacity of thermal power plants situated at Alathiyur, Ariyalur and Jayanthipuram by adding one more turbine of 6 MW each, which would increase the total capacity of the thermal power plants to 175 MW.
