Birla Corporation Ltd registered a nearly 23 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit for Q4 FY23 at ₹85 crore as against ₹111 crore it reported in the year-earlier period.

Consolidated revenue from operations increased around 8 per cent at ₹2,512 crore during the quarter (₹2,334 crore). The company’s board has also recommended a dividend of ₹2.50 per share for FY23and approved the issue of redeemable non-convertible debentures aggregating up to ₹200 crore on private placement basis in one or more tranches within a period of one year.

Realisation up

Despite sluggish demand in most key markets, the company’s consolidated cement sales by volume grew by around 5 per cent y-o-y to 4.44 million tonnes and even with the price remaining weak, realisation was up by 4 per cent over the same period last year at ₹5,261 per tonne, said a statement.

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Sequentially, however, the company has seen an improvement in profitability. It had reported a consolidated net loss of ₹50 crore in Q3 due to a surge in power and fuel cost.

The 3.9-mt Mukutban unit, which is a part of the company’s material subsidiary, RCCPL Pvt Ltd, started commercial production at the beginning of FY23. The unit has turned EBITDA-positive in March, and its performance has been ahead of internal expectations despite not-so-encouraging market conditions in Maharashtra.

For the year ended March 31, 2023, net profit was down by nearly 90 per cent at ₹41 crore as against ₹399 crore in FY22. The company’s scrip closed at ₹991.05, up 0.94 per cent on the BSE on Tuesday.