Shares of Ramco Cements touched a 52-week high of Rs 834.85, up 8% on the BSE in intraday trade on Friday after the company reported a 47% year-on-year growth in sales to 4.7 million tonnes (MT) for March 2023. Capacity utilisation in July (Q4FY23) will be 85%, compared to 66% in Q4FY2022.

The company’s net revenue rose 50% YoY to Rs 2,581 crore in Q4FY23 compared to Rs 1,719 crore in Q4FY22. EBITDA/T improved by Rs 83/t QoQ to Rs 876/t on positive operating leverage. Reported EBITDA rose 40% YoY to Rs 411.7 crore. Profit after tax rose 22.6% year-on-year to Rs 151 crore.

Ramco Cements said that while the long-term earnings outlook looks promising, the short-term outlook is expected to improve from Q2FY24 onwards. It added that margins were impacted by higher fuel prices and surcharges imposed by railways.

In the southern region, demand improved in both traded and non-traded (mostly road projects) sectors. In the East, however, trade demand remained flat while the non-trade segment grew.

Upgrading of Line 3 at RR Nagar, Tamil Nadu will be commissioned in March 2023 with a clinker capacity of 1mtpa. It is expanding its dry-blended product capacity at four locations. It has commissioned two plants in Tamil Nadu in the second half of FY23, while the remaining plants (one unit at each location) in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will be commissioned in FY24.