New Delhi: Birla Corporation on Thursday reported a 9 percent growth in its standalone net profit at Rs 28.46 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.
The firm, the flagship company of M P Birla Group, had posted a net profit of Rs 26.20 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a BSE filing.
Total standalone income of the firm rose marginally to Rs 797.15 crore in January-March quarter of the last fiscal from Rs 793.48 crore in the same quarter of 2013-14 fiscal.
During the fourth quarter, cement production declined by 2.7 percent to 18.65 lakh tonnes compared to the previous quarter of the corresponding year. Cement dispatches also fell by 1.31 percent to 18.81 lakh tonnes during the period.
For the 2014-15 fiscal, Birla Corporations' consolidated net profit rose 35 percent to Rs 175.24 crore from Rs 129.82 crore in the year-ago period.
Revenue grew 6 percent to Rs 3,209.89 crore from Rs 3,016.35 crore during the period.
Cement production was up by 3.77 percent to 76.24 lakh tonnes in 2014-15 fiscal compared to 2013-14, whereas cement dispatches rose by 4.42 percent to 76.72 lakh tonnes during the same period.
"Barring the first quarter of the current fiscal, demand for cement as well as prices remained sluggish. East, North and Central markets, in particular, were the worst hit," Birla Corporation said.
Weak monsoon and widespread unseasonal rain during the last quarter of the year, in the North and Central parts of the country, pushed the demand down, especially from the non-urban belt, it added.
The performance of the company was "severely impacted" due to "non-availability of linkage coal in time, the company had to procure coal from the open market, including imports, at a substantially higher cost," it said.
"The grid power rates have gone up. Also, the cost of power generation by the company had gone up owing to purchase of coal from the open market. Though road freight cost came down during the year on account of lower diesel prices the saving was negated by higher railway freight," it added.
High cost of limestone added to the production cost.
On the outlook, the firm said: "With the prediction of weak monsoon in the current financial year, the demand from the rural market may be impacted adversely."
However initiatives such as developing infrastructure, smart cities, Make in India, concrete roads and an increase in allocation of funds to States, are likely to help improve the demand, it added.
"While signals are positive, ground-level actions will help rev up the economy. It is expected that demand- supply mismatch will reverse for better gradually with slower pace of capacity addition. Proposed implementation of GST is expected to simplify the tax structure, benefiting the cement industry," it said.
Shares of Birla Corporation on Thursday fell by 4.37 percent to close at Rs 405.75 apiece at the BSE.
