India’s largest cement producer is at a 52-week high courtesy of a 20% jump in June quarter sales volume

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Shares of UltraTech Cement Ltd. rose by more than 2 percent on Monday to hit a 52-week after the company’s June quarter business update, which it reported on Friday.

According to the business update by the cement maker, total consolidated sales volume for the June quarter of financial year 2024 rose by 20 percent year-on-year to 29.96 million tonnes from 24.2 million tonnes in the year-ago quarter.

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However, total India sales volumes were down by 5 percent compared to 30.49 million tonnes in the March quarter of financial year 2023.

Capacity utilisation for the quarter stood at 90 percent.

Grey cement sales volume rose by 20 percent to 28.60 million tonnes in the June quarter compared to 23.83 million tonnes in April-June period of last year. Sales dropped by 5 percent compared to 30.02 million tonnes in the previous quarter.

Overseas sales of grey cement rose by 11 percent to 1.04 million tonnes in the June quarter from 0.94 million tonnes a year ago but fell by 20 percent sequentially.

White cement sales rose by 12 percent to 0.41 million tonnes in the June quarter compared to 0.37 million tonnes a year ago.

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UltraTech Cement in May had announced that its subsidiary UltraTech Nathdwara Cement commissioned a 0.8 million tonnes per annum plant in Rajasthan, taking its total production capacity to 17.05 MTPA of grey cement capacity in the state.

Brokerage firm Citi wrote in a note that the sales volume growth in the quarter was likely driven by strong industry demand and new capacities commissioned over the past year.

The note further said that while demand has been strong, cement prices have largely been rangebound despite a sharp fall in petcoke and coal prices. The brokerage is also not constructive around cement pricing, but expects better cost structures to swing near-term profitability dynamics. Citi has maintained a buy rating on UltraTech with a price target of Rs 9,050.

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Shares of UltraTech are trading 1.6 percent higher at Rs 8,424.75. The stock has risen 20 percent so far on a year-to-date basis.