Sagar Cements NSE 1.35 % on Friday reported a 94 percent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 1.18 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2020, due to COVID-19 related disturbances in the market.
The Hyderabad-based company had posted a net profit of Rs 18.75 crore in January-March, 2018-19, Sagar Cements said in a BSE filing. Revenue from operations was down 17.02 percent to Rs 303.57 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 365.84 crore in the year-ago period. The pandemic also disrupted logistics & labor movement impacting sales activities, the company said adding We anticipate that ex-COVID-19, the Q4 could have grown by 10 percent.
Sagar Cements Joint Managing Director Sreekanth Reddy said, while lower operating leverage impacted margins and operating profitability, benign input prices and the company’s cost rationalization measures helped soften the overall impact. Total expenses in March quarter 2020 were at Rs 294.77 crore as against Rs 338.02 crore, down 12.79 percent.
However, in 2019-20, Sagar Cements’ net profit was up 95.21 percent to Rs 26.53 crore. It was Rs 13.59 crore in the previous year. Revenue from operation in the fiscal was Rs 1,175.15 crore, down 3.48 percent from Rs 1,217.55 crore in 2018-19. On the outlook, Reddy said: While the logistics and demand related headwinds may persist in the near term,
we are hopeful that our recent strategic measures will help us to further enhance our efficiencies and lower our operating expenses Going ahead, a gradual pick-up in the construction and liquidity levels along with easing of labor and goods movement will help revive the demand for the sector, he added. Shares of Sagar Cements on Friday settled at Rs 274.25 apiece on BSE, down 0.45 percent from the previous close.
