13 Nov , 2024 By : Debdeep Gupta
Shares of The Ramco Cements dropped over 3 percent after the company reported weak consolidated earnings for the quarter that ended in September. The results showed declines in both profit and revenue on an annual and sequential basis.
At 11:50 AM, shares traded at Rs 882, marking a 3 percent drop. Year-to-date, the stock has fallen 13 percent, underperforming the Nifty 50, which has risen over 9 percent. The stock has, however, delivered positive monthly returns from August through October.
For Q2FY25, Ramco Cements' consolidated net profit saw a steep fall, down 31 percent quarter-on-quarter and 64 percent year-on-year to Rs 25.7 crore. Revenue also declined, slipping 2.3 percent from the previous quarter and 12.7 percent on an annual basis to Rs 2,044 crore.
Ramco Cements attributed its revenue decline to a 10 percent drop in cement prices and a 3 percent dip in sales volume, impacted by weak demand during the monsoon season.
In Q2FY25, total sales volume, including building products, fell to 4.49 million tons from 4.61 million tons in Q2FY24. Cement capacity utilization dropped to 75 percent from 82 percent last year due to added capacity from debottlenecking projects and the new line in Odisha, commissioned in H2FY24.
EBITDA for the quarter declined by 22 percent year-on-year to Rs 323 crore, with the operating margin slipping to 16 percent from 18 percent.
Raw material costs rose slightly by 1 percent year-on-year to Rs 903 per ton, affected by inflation in procurement costs.
Net debt as of September 30, 2024, stood at Rs 5,103 crore, with a debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 3.95x. The company's debt cost increased marginally to 7.96 percent. In October 2024, Ramco repaid Rs 326 crore of debt through the sale of non-core assets.
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