India: Prism Cement sees losses shrink for 1HFY17

Prism Cement has released its financial results for the first half of its trading year, which began on 1 April, revealing a loss of INR50.62m (US$0.75m) over the six-month period. This compares favourably with the same period in FY16, when the company booked a loss of INR522.8m.

Prism’s cement business saw revenues rise by 0.7 per cent and was the most profitable of the company’s three divisions. Prisms profits from cement rose by 68 per cent YoY to INR1.1bn. However, sales of cement and clinker for the quarter ending 30 September were 1.18Mt, down 12.6 per cent on the same period in the previous year.

In its performance review accompanying the results, Prism attributed the disappointing second-quarter results to the heavy monsoon, and particularly to the flooding this caused in the key markets of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

In a forward-looking statement, Prism said that in the short-term demonetisation was likely to reduce demand. The company also announced that it had succeeded in its bid for a 120,000tpa coal allocation, easing fuel supply issues which have seen the company turn to imports of both coal and petcoke.