ACC shares zoom 4% after four-fold rise in net profit in Dec quarter

Shares of Gautam Adani-led ACC Ltd surged as much as 3.59% to hit a 52-week high of ₹2,563.95 apiece on the BSE, after the cement major reported a 376% year-on-year increase in profit after tax to ₹538 crore in the December quarter of FY24, as against ₹113 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. The company says the increase in profit is owing to a sharp growth in volume and improvement of important KPIs (key performance indicators).

The scrip opened gap-up at ₹2,535.90, up 2.34%, as against the previous closing price of ₹2,477.80. At 11:56 am, the company's share price was trading 2.27% higher at ₹2,533.95. This was in line with the broader BSE Sensex, which was trading 928.75 points or 1.31% higher at 71,629.42. The company hit a 52-week low of ₹1,593.50 on March 28 last year. The company’s market capitalisation stood at ₹46,946.82 crore, with 50,846 shares exchanging hands on the BSE, as against the two-week average of 0.29 lakh shares.

In the past one month, three months and one year, the counter has given 13.24%, 33.18% and 32.76% in returns, respectively. In the year-to-date period, the counter has given 11.46% in returns.

In the October to December quarter of FY24, the company’s revenue from operations stood at ₹4,914 crore, up 8.3%, as against ₹4,537 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. The company’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) witnessed a growth of ₹905 crore, up 138% year-on-year (YoY), as against ₹379 crore in the same period last year. The company’s EBITDA margin expanded to 18.4% in the quarter under review, as against 8% in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

The company's sales volume including cement and clinker stood at 8.9 million tonnes, as against 7.6 million tonnes.

"ACC's financial performance has seen a complete turnaround in the last 12 months. Recent capacity additions have taken the Adani Group’s cement capacity to 77.4 MPTA. This will enable volume and revenue growth on a sustainable basis," says Ajay Kapur, director & CEO, ACC Ltd.

In its outlook, the company says the cement demand in the country will continue to grow at 7-8% primarily fuelled by investments in infrastructure and large-scale residential housing projects. "This growth aligns strategically with the broader economic development goals of the country, as we move from a USD 3.5 trillion to USD 7.3 trillion economy by 2030. Opportunity buy of low-cost petcoke will help to further optimise fuel costs in the coming quarters and will augur well in our cost optimisation journey," the company says.