(Reuters) -India’s JK Lakshmi Cement reported a lower fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, as rising costs and softer prices overshadowed volume growth in a seasonally strong period.
Standalone net profit after tax fell 3% to 1.38 billion rupees ($16 million) during the January-March quarter.
Revenue from operations rose 5.5%, while costs increased 6%.
For further earnings highlights, click here.
KEY CONTEXT
The weather in India in the first three months of the year is usually favourable for construction and cement mills typically cash in on this demand by boosting their volumes.
Prices also began to recover in the past few months, reversing from declines logged for the bulk of last year. Still, the average price for the quarter was 2% lower on-year, data from brokerage Ambit Capital showed.
Rival Shree Cement marginally missed fourth-quarter profit view as higher costs bit into record volumes, while cost controls helped Dalmia Bharat offset a hit from soft prices and lower volumes.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue Profit Mean No. of Stock to Div
growth (%) growth (%) rating* analyst price yield
s target** (%)
JK Lakshmi Cement 24.34 10.53 13.30 76.15 Buy 13 0.98 0.74
Shree Cement 59.87 20.81 11.08 59.08 Hold 18 1.04 0.34
Dalmia Bharat 35.73 12.49 11.22 31.69 Hold 28 1.01 0.44
Nuvoco Vistas 47.36 9.21 8.45 388.73 Hold 16 0.95 —
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell ** The ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
JANUARY-MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 85.3750 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
