Ship sale aids India Cements pare Q3 losses

CHENNAI: India Cements pared losses during the Q3 under review, signalling a turnaround of sorts on account of better sales realisation and improved operating performance.

The company has made cash profit ofRs 6 crore for the quarter under review. Together with the profit arising from the sale of ship, it made a cash profit of Rs 32 crore for the quarter under review, despite the reduction in volume caused by the liquidity crunch.

The EBIDTA for the quarter turned around to a positive Rs 66 crore as against a negative EBIDTA of Rs 66 crore during the Q3 of the previous year, as per a release. It reported a loss of Rs 16.51 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2023 compared to a loss of Rs 81.39 crore ended September 30, 2023.

The capacity utilisation of the company was muted on account of stressed working capital conditions and it was around 51 per cent only during the Q3 as compared to 56 per cent in the same quarter of the previous year and61 per cent in the Q2 of the current fiscal.

The cement and clinker volume for the quarter was only 19.85 lakh tons as compared to 21.82 lakh tons in the previous year a drop of nearly 9 per cent. There was an exceptional income of Rs 26 crore during the quarter on account of profit on sale of ship while during the previous year, there was an extraordinary item representing the profit on investments of Rs 294 cr (lands at Damoh in Madhya Pradesh). After tax adjustments, the loss was Rs 17 cr for the quarter under review, it said.