(Reuters) – India Cements reported a wider quarterly loss on Tuesday, hurt by soft demand and still-weak prices of the construction material, and also took one-time impairment charges.
The company, owned by UltraTech Cement, said its losses before exceptional items and taxes, for the quarter ended December, widened to 3.07 billion rupees ($35.5 million), from a loss of 502.4 million rupees a year ago.
Cement prices, which had been falling for most of last year, were little changed through the quarter. Data from brokerages Nomura and Ambit showed that pan-India average cement price for the December quarter was still 11% lower on year.
Soft demand, triggered by a labour crunch in the company’s core south Indian market, dragged the company’s revenues down by 17% to 9.03 billion rupees.
During the reported quarter, India Cements incurred an exceptional cost worth nearly 2 billion rupees, consisting of impairment charges of certain assets and provisions for doubtful receivables from its units.
Earlier in the day, bigger rival Dalmia Bharat signalled optimism in cement demand and pricing going ahead after posting a slump in third-quarter earnings.
Late in the reported quarter, India’s competition watchdog approved market leader UltraTech’s over-55% stake buy in the company, one among the host of deals struck in the sector since ports-to-power Adani group’s foray in 2022.
UltraTech is set to report its quarterly results later this week.
($1 = 86.5680 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
