UltraTech Cement Q4 Results: Profit Rises 35%, Beats Estimates

UltraTech Cement Ltd.'s consolidated net profit jumped 35.23% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, surpassing analysts' estimates.

The cement manufacturer's profit soared to Rs 2,258.58 crore in the quarter-ended March, according to an exchange filing on Monday. Analysts tracked by Bloomberg had estimated a profit of Rs 2,122.7 crore.

The company's board also recommended a dividend of Rs 70 per share.

• Revenue up 9.41% at Rs 20,418.9 crore vs Rs 18,662.38 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 20,084.3 crore).

• Ebitda rises 23.81% to Rs 4,113.88 crore vs Rs 3,322.49 crore (Estimate: Rs 3,815.2 crore).

• Margin at 20.14% vs 17.8% (Bloomberg estimate: 19%).

• Net profit up 35.23% at Rs 2,258.58 crore vs Rs 1,670.1 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 2,122.7 crore).

The company achieved volume growth of 13% year-on-year for fiscal 2024. This was backed by 11% year-on-year growth in volume for the fourth quarter.

Due to coal and petcoke (fuel) prices dropped during the financial year, the fuel costs—that contribute to 25% of the company's total expenses—fell significantly by 21% year-on-year to Rs 1,025 per million tonne.

The company's imported fuel consumption cost during Q4 stood 13% lower than the same period last year and remained flat sequentially.

UltraTech Cement's green power mix also increased to 25.7%, as compared with 20.3% a year ago.

This led to improvement in efficiencies and power consumption per tonne of cement to be reduced by 2% on an annual basis.

The effective capacity utilisation was at 98% during the quarter, and 85% for the full year.

Ultratech Cement's grey cement sales realisation stood 3.8% lower at Rs 5,170 per million tonne in Q4 FY24. Lower realisations was due to the price weakness seen across regions in Q4.

However, the three-year compound annual growth rate for grey cement sales realisations stood at 3.5%

All-India average cement prices stood 4% lower sequentially, with the highest price dips seen in the east and south regions at 11% and 5.4%, respectively, according to cement checks.

UltraTech Cement saw a significant decrease in key cost indicators, that helped the company see higher Ebitda and margin despite the price weakness.

Logistics costs, which account for 32% of the company's total costs, fell 2% year-on-year to Rs 1,226 per million tonne.

This was due to the company being able to reduce lead distances to 400 km in Q4, as compared with 413 km a year ago.

UltraTech Cement also managed to maintain its raw material costs on an annual basis. Raw material costs account for 15% of the cement-maker's total costs and were kept stable at a rate of Rs 601 per million tonne.

The clinker conversion ratio also improved to 1.44 as compared with 1.42 a year ago.