Ambuja Cement records 13% net profit rise for 3Q18

India’s Ambuja Cement has announced a 12.7 per cent YoY increase in consolidated net profit to INR3.96bn (US$54.08m) for the 3Q18, ended 30 September. Total income rose by 11.8 per cent to INR60.97bn, compared to INR54.51bn of the year-ago period.

Net profit was supported by an 8.7 per cent growth in cement sales volumes to 5.46Mt from 5.02Mt.

"Our continued focus on growing the topline with our well-defined marketing and commercial strategies focusing on the retail consumers, value added portfolio products and service and selling more in our core markets helped deliver a good net sales growth of 10.4 per cent. Sharp cost management helped mitigate the impact of headwinds coming from oil/fuel and rupee volatility and enable us to deliver good results" said Ajay Kapur, managing director and CEO, Ambuja Cement.

In its outlook, the company noted the continued importance of government-led infrastructure projects.

"Continued focus on GDP growth and infrastructure projects by the government and a strong push on housing for all and affordable housing led to good demand growth in the cement sector. Going forward, we expect this to continue and accelerate further," Ambuja Cement said.