UltraTech Cement has announced a fall in pre-tax profits in the financial year to 31 March 2018 (FY2017/18). The Aditya Birla Group company recorded pre-tax profits of INY33.1 billion, a 14.7% fall on the previous year.
The decline in pre-tax profits comes despite a jump in revenues to INR32.3 billion – a 12.8% increase on FY2016/17 – as costs rose by INR3.82 billion.
Power and fuel costs rose substantially from INR4.4 billion in FY2016/17 to INR6.3 billion, while freight and forwarding expenses were also higher at INR7.3 billion, compare to INR5.9 billion the year before.
In 4Q18, the company recorded growth of 31% in volumes.
“The quarter continued to witness increase in input costs attributable to rise in petcoke and coal prices, and the ban on petcoke usage in TPPs,” the company said.