Cement demand is witnessing an upward movement with higher spends on infrastructure and the government-sponsored housing programme.

NEW DELHI: Aditya Birla group firm Grasim Industries posted a 76 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 958 crore for the October-December quarter.

In a BSE filing on Thursday, the company projected a positive outlook for itself, citing the fact that cement demand is witnessing an upward movement with higher spends on infrastructure and the government-sponsored housing programme.

Here’s a look at highlights of Grasim’s December quarterly numbers.

Consolidated revenue: The company’s consolidated revenue for the quarter rose 22 per cent to Rs 18,419 crore compared with Rs 15,153 crore in the same quarter last year.

Ebitda: The company saw a year-on-year (YoY) jump of 11 per cent in Ebitda at Rs 2,958 crore for the quarter of under review, against Rs 2,675 crore a year earlier.

Total income: Total income went up by 21.24 per cent YoY to Rs 5,351.43 crore against Rs 4,414.09 crore in the year-ago period. However, in a note, the company said, “The results for the three months and nine months ended December 31, 2018, include the financial results of Viscose Filament Yarn (VFY) Business of Century Textiles and Industries (CTIL) for which rights and responsibility to manage, operate, use and control were acquired by the company and included in the results with effect from February 1, 2018. Hence, the results are not comparable with the corresponding periods of the previous year.”

Capex plan: The total capex plan of nearly Rs 7,627 crore (at a standalone level) is under execution for raising capacities in both the VSF and chemical businesses. This capital expenditure will be incurred over FY19-21. It will be majorly funded by internal accruals. The cash profit generated in nine months of FY19 is over Rs 2,700 crore.

Outlook: The firm is quite optimistic about the growth of viscose, chemical and cement business. According to its regulatory filing, the VSF business will continue to focus on expanding the market in India by partnering with the textile value chain. The chemical business is witnessing a healthy growth with the completion of its recent capacity expansion. Additional growth is expected from the proposed caustic soda expansion and new product lines for specialty chemicals. Cement demand is witnessing an upward movement with higher spends on infrastructure and the government-sponsored housing programme.