India: Sagar Cements sees sales dip in December

In a trading statement released this week, Sagar Cement has reported a slight decline in cement sales for December compared with a year earlier. Consolidated results – which include the firm’s BMM subsidiary – show cement sales dropping by 0.4 per cent to 154,196t.

Sales at Sagar’s core business dropped more appreciably, being down 4.6 per cent at 100,054t.

For the nine months from April to December, consolidated sales rose by 17.9 per cent to 1.56Mt, while standalone sales fell by 10.1 per cent to 1.08Mt.

The fall in standalone sales can be accounted for by Sagar’s decision to exit a joint venture with Vicat in Karnataka in 2015. As a result of this, standalone sales in southern states fell YoY in 9M2017, but this was compensated for by increased sales in those regions through BMM. The falling off of consolidated sales in December was largely due to declining volumes in non-core regions.