A story I wrote yesterday analysing ACC's earnings figures for Jan-Mar 2017:
ACC Jan-Mar consol PAT hit by surge in input costs
ACC Jan-Mar consol PAT hit by surge in input costs
Significantly higher increases in power and
freight costs,and excise
duty, proved to be a drag on the bottomline of ACC Ltd in Jan-Mar.
The cement major's consolidated net profit
fell 8.9% on year in the March
quarter to
2.11 bln rupees despite the fact that total income increased 8.8%
on year to
36.63 bln rupees.
Freight and forwarding costs
surged 13.4% on year to 8.26 bln rupees and
accounted
for 23% of total expenses during the reporting quarter. The company
said in a
statement accompanying the earnings release that the cost of
packing
materials and freight had hardened in Jan-Mar.
"There was a shortfall in regular
availability of flyash, a part of which
was
procured over longer leads, entailing higher transportation costs," the
company
further said.
Power and fuel expenses, which accounted
for 18% of total expenses, also
rose
sharply by 14.1% on year to 6.48 bln rupees in Jan-Mar.
The 8.8% on-year rise in consolidated total
income in the March quarter
came each
of the preceding three quarters recording on-year fall.
This was mainly due to consolidated cement
sales gaining traction for the
first time
in four quarters. The Jan-Mar cement sales increased 3.8% on year
to 6.60 mln
tn.
In the quarters ending December, September
and June, cement sales volume
had
recorded on-year declines of 9.2%, 9.6% and 1.3% respectively.
Growth in sales volume of ready-mix
concrete, however, slowed down in the
reporting
quarter compared to the Oct-Dec quarter. ACC sold 0.72 mln cu mtr
ready-mix
concrete in Jan-Mar, up 7.5% on year. In the previous quarter,
ready-mix
concrete sales had risen by 13.6% on year to 0.67 mln cu mtr.
ACC was expected to report a consolidated
net profit of 1.60 bln rupees on
net sales
of 29.89 bln rupees, according to an average of 11 brokerage firms'
estimates.
The reported figures came above the analysts estimate.
Brokerage firm KR Choksey noted in a
post-earning research note that
ACC's
cement volume growth was exceptional in a quarter which was
significantly
affected by demonitisation.
ICICIdirect noted in its post-result
research note that ACC beat its
topline
estimate as the 3.8% on year increase in volumes came in as a
positive
surprise as core industry data in the first two months of CY17
showed pan India
production volumes to have fallen by 15.0% on year.
Analysts were also expecting rise in
operating costs to hit ACC's
consolidated
net profit and while it did, ACC's net profit was above the
analysts'
average estimate. "Net profit remained above our expectation due to
higher than
expected operating margins," said ICICIdirect in its note.
The consolidated operating margin in
Jan-Mar stood at 11.6%. Although
this was
lower than 13.9% in the year ago quarter, it was higher than the
operating
margins of 9.4% and 10.9% in the quarters ending December and
September.
Apart from surge in power and fuel, and
freight costs impacting ACC's
bottomline
the 5.5% on-year rise in raw material costs also had an impact
since each
of the preceding three quarters had seen raw material costs record
on-year
declines.
ACC attributed the rise in material costs
to the hardening in petcoke
prices in
the reporting quarter. In Jan-Mar raw material costs accounted for
13% of
total expenses.
ACC's managing director and CEO Neeraj
Akhoury said during the reporting
quarter the
company launched two new products and continued to build its
specialised
building products segment. He said the company will continue to
invest in
new capacity at its Jamul plant which stood fully commissioned in
the March
quarter and was catering to the cement major's customers in the
eastern
region of the country.
Story also at:
Higher power/fuel & freight costs
(together accounting for 41% of total expenses) hit net profit -- http://www.cogencis.com/differentiators/ShareNews.aspx?newsId=901962
