ACC’s profit in the first quarter of FY22 up by 74%

Cement manufacturing company ACC Limited told the media that its profit after tax has surged by 74% to Rs 563 crore in the January to March quarter as compared to Rs 323 crore in the same period during the previous fiscal. ACC Ltd follows January to December as the fiscal year. The company's net sales during the first quarter (Q1) in FY2021 increased by 23% to Rs 4,213 crore as compared to Rs 3,433 crore in Q1 FY2020. The operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter was Rs 860 crore as against Rs 586 crore in Q1 FY20, up by 47%. The operating EBITDA margin expansion of 450 basis points driven by capital expenditure led to strong cost actions and higher growth in premium products. ACC commissioned a large new grinding unit at Sindri industrial township in the Dhanbad district of Jharkhand, adding a capacity of 1.4 million tonne per annum. A member of the LafargeHolcim Group, ACC, is one of India's producers of cement and ready-mix concrete. The company has 17 cement manufacturing sites, 79 concrete plants and a countrywide network of over 50,000 retail outlets. As we have reported earlier, according to India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), cement demand is expected to grow at 13-14% year-on-year in FY22 after two consecutive years of flat-to-negative growth. The cement demand to gross domestic product growth multiplier is likely to hit 1.3 times in FY22, compared to the trailing 15-year average of 0.9 times.Image SourceAlso read: Cement demand may surpass 340 mt in FY22: ICRA Also read: Cement demand to sustain: India Ratings and Research