Shares of JK Lakshmi Cement fell 5.02% to Rs 741 on May 22 after the company reported a 39% drop in consolidated net profit to Rs 114.83 crore for the quarter ended March.

In a regulatory filing dated May 19, JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd said it had made a profit of Rs 18,836 crore in the January-March period a year ago.

However, its operating income rose 16.4 per cent to Rs 1,862.07 crore in the quarter, compared to Rs 1,599.83 crore a year earlier.

EBITDA fell 28.34% to Rs 232.66 crore, missing Bloomberg estimates of Rs 248.13 crore. EBITDA margin also fell to 12.49% from 20.29% a year earlier.

The total expenditure for Q4FY23 was Rs 1,716.95 crore, an increase of 16.9% from Rs 1,468.64 crore. Its total revenue for the March quarter was Rs 1,878.76 crore.

As vice chairman and managing director, Vinita Singhania said: “Despite the unabated increase in fuel costs, the company has achieved satisfactory performance through improvements in various efficiency parameters, better product mix and geographic mix, and focus on several green initiatives.”

Sales in the quarter were 3.38 million tonnes. The company’s net profit fell 22.7% to Rs 369.11 crore in the financial year ending March 2023. It reported a net profit of Rs 477.58 crore for the same period last year.

Its consolidated operating income for FY23 was Rs 6,451.5 crore, up 19% from the previous fiscal.

The board has recommended a dividend of Rs 5-3.75 per share for the financial year ending March 31, 2023.

In addition, it has approved raising up to Rs 200 crore from the market through the issuance of green bonds/non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to partially finance ongoing projects.

Furthermore, the company said: “Considering the government’s focus on infrastructure development and higher budget allocations for infrastructure development and various other initiatives for housing and road development, the outlook for the cement industry in the coming year is very positive.”

Shares of JK Lakshmi Cement are down about 7% year-to-date but have gained 57% over the past year.