ACC Q1 profit slips 6.6%, reports decline in sales due to lockdown

Cement major ACC on April 21 reported a 6.6 percent fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 323.02 crore for the March quarter.

The company had posted a profit of Rs 346.02 crore in the same quarter last year.

ACC follows January to December financial year.

ACC's Q1 revenue stood at Rs 3,501 crore, 1.5 percent less than CNBC-TV18 poll of Rs 3,555 crore.

Its total expenses in January-March 2020 were at Rs 3,083.78 crore as against Rs 3,555.84 crore in the year-ago period.

Its sales volume was down 12.06 percent to 6.56 million tonne as against 7.46 million tonne in the corresponding year-ago quarter.

"Operations have been severely impacted since the commencement of the nationwide lockdown from March 24, impacting volumes for the month of March 2020," said MD and CEO Sridhar Balakrishnan.

He, however, expressed optimism about a rebound  and expects the company to emerge stronger from this crisis.

"Despite uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions, the company believes that, post lockdown, supportive measures and stimuli from the government and Reserve Bank of India will help spur demand growth notably in the infrastructure segment," said Balakrishnan.