The Hindu Business Line : ACC net down 16 pc, sales remain flat

Mumbai, Feb. 5 Cement major ACC has reported 16 per cent drop in net profit at Rs 1,213 crore in the year ended December 31, 2008 against Rs 1,439 crore logged in the same period last year.

Net sales grew 4.5 per cent to Rs 7,309 crore (Rs 6,991 crore) in the period under review. The company produced 21.01 million tonnes (19.97 million tonnes) in 2008.

Total expenditure increased 9 per cent to Rs 5,870 crore (Rs 5,377 crore) on 29 per cent jump in power and fuel cost at Rs 1,599 crore (Rs 1,243 crore) and six per cent rise in freight at Rs 1,001 crore (Rs 944 crore).

The company has reported an exceptional income of Rs 49 crore including the profit of Rs 12 crore on sale of land at Sanatnagar, Hyderabad and a profit of Rs 37 crore from divestment of its wholly-owned subsidiary ACC Machinery Company Ltd.

The board of directors has decided to recommend a final dividend of Rs 10 a share aggregating Rs 220 crore (including tax on dividend). The total dividend, including interim dividend of Rs 10 per share paid in August 2008, would be Rs 20 a share amounting to Rs 439 crore.

ACC has decided not to undertake any fresh capital expenditure in the calendar year 2009 but will complete all the ongoing projects on time, said a company official. The company had announced a plan to raise production capacity from 21.4 million tonne to 30 million tonnes by end of 2010.

The project seeking to expand the capacity of the works at Bargarh, Orissa to 2.3 million tonnes a year with a captive power plant of 30 MW would be completed by mid-2009, the company said. The expansion at the Wadi-II plant, along with two grinding units would be commissioned in phases between August 2009 and March 2010.

It commenced work on a new clinker line, with a capacity of 7,000 tonnes per day at Chanda in Maharashtra where a new 25 MW captive power plant will be completed by mid-2010.

“While ACC is focusing on completing the ongoing projects, we have, for the time being, deferred new commitments on other expansion projects in the pipeline,” the company said.

The company does not expect sharp changes in input costs and believes that cement prices would continue to be stable in 2009, the company said.

The shares in BSE closed flat at Rs 531 on Thursday.