India: The India Cements has posted a net profit of US$6.15m for the quarter that ended on 30 June 2015 when compared with a net loss of US$455,297 in the same period of 2014. This is the second successive quarter that it has reported a net profit. The India Cements attributed the good performance to better prices for cement bags and lower expenses as a consequence of cost-control measures.
The India Cements' earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA) grew to US$30.6m from US$25.5m in the same quarter of 2014. Net sales for the quarter fell to US$165m from US$189m in the same period of 2014 as cement sales fell to 2.08Mt from 2.39Mt in the 2014 quarter.
"It was a strong quarter and price stabilisation is slowly taking place. Overall, we have turned a corner. Our next task is to the stabilise performance and improve the bottom line through a combination of cost control measures and increases in volume," said N Srinivasan, vice chairman and managing director of the company.
Srinivasan said that cement demand in the south of India continued to be under pressure with negative growth. With the huge excess capacity in the region, utilisation levels remained at less than 60%, compared with the 70% levels seen for India as a whole. Srinivasan said that he hoped that Seemandhra and Telangana would spur demand to help improve utilisation levels.
